310.2/10–2154: Telegram
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Deputy Director of the Office of United Nations Political and Security Affairs (Popper)
- Subject:
- UN Membership
Miss Salt came in to inquire as to how our proposal for non-member participation in the United Nations was progressing. Since we had already sent instructions to New York to cease pressing the matter, I informed her that we had no intention of going on with it for the present, owing to the unenthusiastic reaction from the bulk of the Members and applicants we had consulted.
Miss Salt expressed relief. She remarked that the basis of the British opposition to the idea was legal and not political in character. She stated that Selwyn Lloyd’s conversation with Senator Fulbright (in which Lloyd had indicated opposition because of the undesirable political effects of enlarging the General Assembly) was an approach that would appeal to men engaged in politics, but was at pains to point out that it was not the real basis of British policy.