320/1–1652: Telegram

The Consul General at Tunis ( Jernegan ) to the Department of State 1

confidential

66. If Dept thinks necessary I shall be glad inform Residency US Govt would much prefer avoid UN debate on Tunisia (Paris tel Delga [Page 669] 1012, January 14).2 I have already expressed personal opinion that effect to Min De Boisseson.

I should be reluctant, however, approach Tunisian natlists this regard. For reasons stated my tel 45, December 3,3 I think it preferable we avoid direct official démarches with Tunisians. In present case, too, I would find it difficult present plausible reasons why Tunisians should refrain from appeal to UN through whatever channels they can find or why US should oppose such appeal. Fact we do not wish alienate Fr or add to number controversies before UN would not interest Tunisians. Technical objections re legal standing Tunisian mins in relation UN, Fr control of Tunisian fon affairs, lack of threat to peace, etc. had better be raised by others if we want avoid antagonizing Tunisians.

Furthermore, I am not entirely sure we should oppose consideration of case if presented to proper forum and through proper channels. Fr Govt policy re Tunisia as stated note of December 154 is so maladroit and threatens cause so much trouble here and in our relations with Near East that it is possible a public debate creating pressure on France to change policy would be lesser of two evils.5

I am also doubtful that we should support France in any debate on substance of question. Present Fr policy is, to my mind virtually indefensible. Only a promise by new Fr cabinet and new res gen Tunisia to institute more progressive policy would give US grounds to argue on Fr side.

Time may well have come when we should play a little ball with [Page 670] Moslem world rather than share resentment and difficulties created by Fr stubbornness and incapacity.6

Jernegan
  1. This telegram was repeated to Paris.
  2. Not printed; it reported information from a French Delegate that, despite opposition by the Bey to presentation of the Tunisian case to the United Nations, Bourguiba was pressing presentation and allegedly stating that the principal members of the U.S. Delegation to the General Assembly favored such action. (320/1–1452)
  3. Tunis telegram 45 is printed in Foreign Relations, 1951, vol. v, p. 1423. It recommended the United States not give direct official advice to the Tunisian Ministers, as that would put it squarely in the middle of the dispute. The Tunisians would then consider the United States an interested party and would expect it to intervene in the debate on every future occasion. (772.00/12–351)
  4. For information on the French note of Dec. 15, see footnote 3, p. 665. Paris telegram 4132, Jan. 11, informed the Department of State of the main points of a Tunisian Government note delivered to the French Foreign Minister on Jan. 9, which constituted Prime Minister Chenik’s reply to the French note of Dec. 15. Paris despatch 1821, Jan. 11, transmitted a copy of the French text and an informal English translation of the Tunisian note. The Tunisian note claimed that the participation of the French of Tunisia in Tunisian political institutions could only appear to sanction the idea of co-sovereignty and would signify that the assistance of one State to another conferred the right to participate in the recipient country’s government. It stated also that the Dec. 15 note posed principles which invoked explicit reservations on the part of the Tunisian Government and caused consternation and doubt among Tunisians. Documentation is in Department of State file 651.72.
  5. Telegram 37 to Tunis, Jan. 21, advised the Consul General that recent events in Tunisia would probably stiffen the Arab-Asian wish to have the Tunisian question aired in some forum of the United Nations. The Department believed the U.S. Delegation should be cautious about taking any action in those circumstances. It also agreed that technical arguments against Tunisia’s right to raise the question in the Security Council should be raised by others, not by the United States. (320/1–1652)
  6. Paris telegram Delga 994, Jan. 12, reported a conversation with a Neo-Destour representative in Paris, who had just returned from a short visit to Tunisia. He informed a member of the United States Delegation to the General Assembly that the Tunisian Nationalists had concluded the position of the French Government stated in the French note of Dec. 15 would mean a backward step in the progress of Tunisian development toward self-government. The Tunisian Ministers had decided unanimously to submit their case to the Security Council, but had not decided when they would take that action. In addition, the Tunisians interpreted the arrival of the new Resident General on a French cruiser as a provocative gesture. (320/1–1252)