USUN files
The Deputy United States Representative at the United Nations (Gross) to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs (Sandifer)
personal
Dear Sandy: Trygve Lie returned yesterday from his European trip and I had lunch with him today for a personal, very informal discussion with him. I think you will be interested in a full report, and you will notice there were a number of subjects covered which he is most anxious to keep confidential.
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4. Slates
Lie assumes Pearson will be President of the Assembly. In this connection, Lie did a little probing on the question of who might succeed him as Secretary General. His opening gambit was the comment, with left eyebrow lifted, that Pearson was his candidate for the next Secretary General. I expressed the view that any discussion at this time of the next Secretary General was really premature because so much would depend upon developments during 1953. However, Lie proceeded, [Page 420] in great confidence, to tell me that he has received an offer from certain unnamed interests to head up a new international project on Technical Assistance, in which he said he was “very, very interested”. I have no doubt he will soon start talking more and more openly about this, and I do not think it is unkind to predict that this will be his method of sounding us out on our attitude toward his re-election. I thought it best to “play it straight”.
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Sincerely yours,