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

Hickerson–Murphy–Key files, lot 58 D 33, “UN Charter Review Conference”

Memorandum by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs (Sandifer) to the Assistant Secretary (Hickerson)¹

confidential

[Washington,] March 4, 1953.

• Subject:
• Preliminary Planning for UN Charter Review Preparations

Problem:

In view of the increasing evidence of outside interest in this problem, what internal preparations should the Department now organize, and what should it state publicly respecting future plans for Congressional and public Participation?

Discussion:

1. The Secretary has decided to oppose the calling of a Review Conference earlier than 1955 (attachment A), since preparations for the regular conference will occupy us until then.²

2. Because of the contemporary atmosphere, we do not welcome widespread debate on details of Charter Review for at least another year.

3. Senator Wiley’s speech of March 3, 1953 (attachment B),³ states that Congress should be planning for revision of the Charter. This and other indices suggest that the Department will be questioned soon about the nature of its preparations, and possibly about its attitude toward the creation of a national commission (which in the past we have opposed).

4. It is essential that the Department have a clear idea of the problems involved, the questions which will be raised, and the approach which we feel is desirable, before a widespread public debate gets underway.

5. In the meantime, it is important that the Department have a constructive line for use during this year when questioned, particularly by members of Congress.

Recommendations:

1. A general position be agreed upon consisting of the following:

a. The Department is commencing its own study of Charter Review.

b. This study will take the remainder of 1953.

c. In 1954 the Department plans to discuss Charter Review with members of Congress and representative private citizens, on the basis of its own tentative conclusions. (This will allow at least a year and a half for public discussion).

d. The Department intends to recommend that the American delegation to any Charter Review Conference be broadly representative.

2. This position be submitted to the Secretary for approval and for use by Department officers in response to questions on the subject.

3. The UNA Planning Staff be authorized to undertake during 1953 the first step, i.e., identifying the problems and exploring the alternatives as a background to tentative conclusions. This would be done in close cooperation with the operating units of UNA and other interested areas in the Department.

4. Plans to be completed by the end of 1953 for submission to the Secretary regarding the machinery for Congressional and public consultation.

Additional Attachments:⁴

C. Excerpt from Dulles’ speech, Dec. 11, 1952

D. Excerpt from Lodge’s speech, Dec. 11, 1952

E. Excerpt from article by Lodge, dated April 8, 1951, inserted in Congressional Record, April 9, 1951

F. Excerpts from Dulles,War or Peace

Annex B

[Washington,] January 28, 1953.

The Secretary of State to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (Wiley)

My Dear Senator Wiley: I refer to the Department’s letter dated January 15, 1953, acknowledging your letter dated January 14, 1953,⁵ which requested the views of the Department on Senator Gillette’s draft resolution S. Res. 30 urging the President to take immediate steps, under the provisions of Article 109 of the United Nations Charter, to bring about the holding of a General Conference to review the Charter.

Article 109 provides that a General Conference to review the Charter “may be held at a date and place to be fixed by a two-thirds vote of the members of the General Assembly and by a vote of any seven members of the Security Council”, and that “if such a conference has not been held before the tenth annual session of the General Assembly, the proposal to call one shall be placed on the agenda of that session of the General Assembly, and the conference shall be held if so decided by a majority vote of the members of the General Assembly and by a vote of any seven members of the Security Council”.

The Department has anticipated that a proposal to call a Charter Review Conference will be considered at the tenth regular session or the General Assembly, i.e., sometime during 1955. The development of an official United States position toward the question of Charter review, and toward the many individual issues involved, will require very careful and detailed preparation within the Government, including official studies, advice from members of the Congress, and private discussions with other governments. There should also be, in the judgment of the Department, full opportunity for the public to inform itself regarding the problems involved, and to express its views.

The necessity to make the most thorough preparations for a review conference suggests the wisdom of concentrating on use of the next two years to assure that there will have been adequate consideration of this matter on the part of the American Government and people.

Consequently, the Department believes that there would be no advantage in attempting to advance from its expected time of consideration the date of the General Conference as S. Res. 33 proposes.

Sincerely yours,

John Foster Dulles

1. Drafted by Lincoln P. Bloomfield of UNA/P (the Planning Staff of the Bureau of United Nations Affairs).
2. The reference to “the regular conference” is not clear. The attachment (Dulles letter to Senator Wiley) refers to the tenth regular session of the General Assembly, although preparation for this meeting would not begin ordinarily until 1954. The same would be true also of the projected 10th anniversary commemorative conference to meet in San Francisco in 1955.
3. Not attached to file copy.
4. None printed.
5. Neither attached.