Office of the Historian

144. Telegram From the Delegation at the Foreign Ministers Meetings to the Department of State1

Geneva, November 5, 1955—10 p.m.

Secto 188. Department for Hoover and Wilcox. The following is revision of text contained in Usun 122 to Geneva Secretary from Lodge. Revised text has not been seen by Secretary before he left for Vienna and Brioni, but we believe it reflects his views expressed to us orally this morning.

The text as revised is not to be made public until Secretary receives answers to questions he posed in Secto 148 of November 3, and has had time to consider said answers and comment on them.

  • “1. In his speech at the opening of the General Assembly on September 22nd, Secretary of State Dulles pointed out ‘that our organization’s power derives largely from moral judgments formed here’ and that, therefore, it is essential ‘that there should be here all of those eligible nations which, by their policies and conduct, have demonstrated their devotion to the purposes and principles of UN Charter’.
  • 2. He went on to point out that ‘about a score of sovereign nations are not represented here and many of them meet the membership tests of our charter. They are peace-loving and they have shown themselves able and willing to carry out the Charter’s obligations. Their govts would reflect here important segments of world opinion. To block the admission of such nations by use of the veto power is a grave wrong, not only to them, but it is also a wrong to this organization and to all of its members. I hope that during this Tenth Session action will be taken by the Security Council and by the General Assembly to bring these nations into our membership. Thus, the United Nations would enter its second decade better equipped to serve mankind’.
  • 3. Twelve of the thirteen deserving and qualified nations have been blocked from admission to the United Nations because of Soviet Russia’s abuse of the veto power in the Security Council. The Security Council has not as yet acted on the application of Spain.
  • 4. In the European area, the list includes Italy, Austria, Finland, Eire, and Portugal.
  • 5. In the Near and Far East, it includes Cambodia, Ceylon, Japan, Jordon, Laos, Libya, and Nepal. These were specifically endorsed for membership at the Bandung Conference of last spring.
  • 6. It is reported that the Soviet Union will withhold its veto and that these free nations can become members of the United Nations if the free world is willing not to block the admission of govts behind the so-called ‘iron curtain’—govts which are not equals among equals as are the nations of the free world, but are in a subordinate relationship to Moscow. We refer to Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Rumania.
  • 7. To see such govts enter the United Nations is not to approve their systems of govt nor condone the violations of human rights which the govts of Bulgaria, Hungary, and Rumania have persistently engaged in.
  • 8. On the other hand, there is an overriding argument which, after mature consideration, seems to us to outweigh this drawback. This is that the admission of these 13 free nations greatly outweighs the admission of the 4—because the 13 nations would add so tremendously to the moral weight of the United Nations.
  • 9. There is also reason to hope that membership in the UN will to some extent bring the people of Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Rumania closer to freedom.
  • 10. For these reasons, the United States intends to vote for the admission of the thirteen and to abstain on the four mentioned above.”

You will observe particularly that we have omitted any reference to divided countries because of the difficulties of treating with Federal Republic of Germany which while it has not yet applied for membership, is nevertheless a divided state.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 396.1–GE/11–555. Secret; Niact; Limited Distribution. Also sent to USUN for Lodge.↩
  2. Printed as Delga 217, Document 139.↩