795.00/11–2652
The Secretary of State to the President1
Dear Mr. President: As a result of a combination of pressures, Menon has finally come around to a position satisfactory to us.
Tonight, Menon is circulating a revision of his resolution, which changes only the last paragraph. It now reads:
“If at the end of a further 60 days, there are any prisoners of war whose return to their homelands has not been effected under the above procedures or whose future has not been provided for by the political conference, the responsibility for their care and maintenance and for their subsequent disposition shall be transferred to the UN, which in all matters relating to them shall act strictly in accordance with international law.”
We did everything possible to get Menon to change the period to 30 days, but he could not get his delegation to go along with him on this point. However, we have gotten the Danes to put in an amendment to Menon’s new revision, changing 60 days to 30, and Menon has agreed that he will support the resolution even if this amendment is adopted.
We may also have trouble with the last phrase of Menon’s new wording of the final paragraph, since it will ensure new fights with the Soviets in some subsequent forum over whether the Geneva Convention does or does not require repatriation of all prisoners by force if necessary. But it was just not possible to get him to move any further, and we felt we had gotten most of what we needed.
We have our fingers crossed that this committee debate may be wound up tomorrow or Friday, if the Russians have exhausted their current supply of monkey wrenches.
[Here follows a paragraph of personal comments.]
Respectfully,
- This letter was sent as telegram Actel 9, Nov. 26, 1952, 6:26 p.m. from New York to the Department of State for the White House.↩