315/3–1953
Memorandum for the Files of Telephone Conversations, by the Assistant Secretary of State for united Nations Affairs (Hickerson)
At about 11:15 last night Mr. Ross of USUN called me at home on the telephone and said that Ambassador Lodge had asked him to call me and tell me that he would need last ditch instructions on how he should vote in the secret balloting in the Security Council on March 19 on Madame Pandit for Secretary General. Mr. Ross said that there was a strong possibility that the Chinese would veto Madame Pandit and that most of the other members of the Security Council would abstain, but he said that Ambassador Lodge felt that we could not count on this and he wanted to know how much discretionary authority we could give him in the matter of voting. I told Mr. Ross that I would try to see Secretary Dulles the first thing this morning and call Ambassador Lodge as soon as possible.
I saw the Secretary at 9:20 this morning and immediately after the Secretary’s Staff Meeting I talked to Ambassador Lodge on the telephone and gave him the following instructions, which I told him had the Secretary’s personal approval:
I said that we thought it would be very bad for the United Nations and United States support for it if Madame Pandit were elected Secretary General. I added that the same considerations applied to the candidacy of Sir Benegal Rau. I said that apart from India’s neutralism, we felt that neither of these candidates had the necessary administrative or executive ability to run a great organization like the United Nations. I said that the problem facing the United Nations now is stopping Communist agression and that this can not be done with the passive resistance advocated by India. I said that naturally we would prefer not to have to vote against Madame Pandit or Rau unless it was necessary, but that Ambassador Lodge was authorized [Page 446] in his discretion to vote no if he felt it was necessary to prevent their nomination. I said that we had received a telegram from Taipei that the Chinese representative would veto the Indian candidates, and that we understood that most of the other members were going to abstain. I added that if this were in fact true, we would prefer that Ambassador Lodge abstain, but that we would have to leave this to his judgment, and that he was authorized to vote no if he considered it necessary.