Editorial Note
In a meeting of the Working Group on September 5, 1952, there was substantive discussion of two items; and then only brief consideration of Doc. CP D–11, “Dilemmas of United States Foreign Policy Objectives with Respect to Colonial Areas”. “It was agreed that CP D–11 would be deferred for further consideration until a later meeting of the Working Group.” (Department of State Committee files, lot 54 D 5, Doc. CP M–12, October 3, 1952 (Minutes of September 5 meeting))
The September 5, 1952 meeting was the last meeting of the Working Group on Colonial Problems except one on January 9, 1953 which was convened to deal with the Puerto Rico question (see pages 1427 ff.). Accordingly, no further consideration was given by the Working Group to the problem of general United States policy toward dependent areas.
The question of the future of the Working Group was raised in September 1953. In a memorandum of September 16, 1953 to the Assistant Secretary of State for Administration (Wailes), the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs (Sandifer) proposed the abolition of the Working Group (ODA files, lot 62 D 225, “Working Group on Colonial Policy, 1953”). The Director of the Office of Dependent Area Affairs (Gerig) favored reactivation of the committee (see Gerig memorandum, September 21, 1953, infra).
In another connection, Gerig wrote this assessment of the Working Group on Colonial Problems in terms of problems and accomplishments: “With regard to the objective of working out a general U.S. policy towards colonial questions, the Committee did make considerable progress in identifying the various elements of the problem and in bringing together relevant documentation (including previous analyses of the problem prepared in the Department).…” Gerig said further: “In the course of its work the Committee served as an effective means for clearing position papers on specific colonial problems arising in UN organs. And in this task its basic purpose, namely, to recommend a clear general policy on colonial questions, became more clear although the Committee did not, in the view of most of its members, complete this task. There appeared to be general agreement, however, that in colonial questions the US, because of its relations to its NATO allies who are the principal colonial powers and also because of the necessity for maintaining the sympathies of colonial peoples as well as the sympathies of other countries such as our Latin American neighbors and the Arab-Asian bloc, was bound to follow a middle-of-the-road course.” (Committee Operations Report by Benjamin Gerig, Chairman, Working Group on Colonial Problems, October 1, 1953, ODA files, lot 62 D 225, “Working Group on Colonial Policy, 1953”)