Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, United Nations Affairs, Volume III

UNP files, lot 59 D 237, “Membership, 1951”

Memorandum Prepared in the Bureau of United Nations Affairs and Circulated to the United Nations Advisers of the Geographic Bureaus²

secret

[Washington, June 10, 1952.]

A. In discussions with the Canadians of Pearson’s candidacy we should take the following line:

1. As Canada must know, we believe Pearson would be an exceptionally able President, we strongly hope that he will be elected, and we expect to vote for him. However, it is our opinion that his candidacy will, in the circumstances, be most effective if carried on for the time being without the announced backing of the U.S. The reason for this is that the Seventh Session will be concerned with colonial questions and that the Asian-Africa group might oppose Pearson’s candidacy if it appeared to be a NATO-sponsored one. For the present, therefore, we wish to be able to say to others, when asked, that we are maintaining our usual policy on such matters and have not committed ourselves so far in advance of the session, and thus would wish to refrain from a formal commitment for the time being.

2. In our view it is important that the election of Pearson be by a large majority, including substantial support from the various areas represented in the United Nations. We therefore hope that the Canadians will make an active effort to secure wide support from other areas, including Asia, Africa and Latin America.

3. We wish to be helpful to Pearson’s candidacy and will be glad to consult concerning the time at which it may be desirable to move from the above position to some other.

B. If asked by other governments concerning Pearson’s candidacy we should state that we believe that Pearson would be an exceptionally able President but that it is our usual policy on such matters not to commit ourselves so far in advance.

2. This memorandum incorporated the results of a meeting on June 5 between the Director of the Office of UN Political and Security Affairs (Wainhouse), with staff, and the Assistant Secretary of State for UN Affairs (Hickerson), and the Deputy Assistant Secretary (Sandifer). It was drafted by Paul B. Taylor, Officer in Charge, General Assembly Affairs, and Paul W. Jones, both of the Office of UN Political and Security Affairs. After receiving the approval of Hickerson and Sandifer as drafted, the memorandum on June 10 was circulated to “the Membership Team”, the group of officers from the geographic bureaus who met regularly with officers of the Bureau of UN Affairs for the determination of U.S. policy with regard to UN affairs at the working level. At this time the UN Advisers were: George N. Monsma, Bureau of Inter-American Affairs; Ward P. Allen, Bureau of European Affairs; Harry N. Howard, Bureau of Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs; and Ruth Bacon, Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs.