227. Memorandum From William O. Hall, Senior Adviser on the International Organization Affairs Staff to the Mission at the United Nations, to the Representative at the United Nations (Lodge)1
SUBJECT
- UN Membership
Mr. Andre Ganem (French national on the Advisory Committee) told me at the end of the Assembly he had come to the personal conclusion that the balance of power had now so shifted toward the underdeveloped or anticolonial countries that it would be impossible for the French and other countries with African possessions to deny them self-government for a very long period without coming under very heavy attack in the UN, an attack which would bring together the anticolonial and Soviet countries.
It seems to me that there is a great deal of merit in this view, and it occurs to me that it might be worthwhile for the U.S. to catalogue all of the Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories which have nearly reached the point where they might be expected to demand and obtain self-government. If we find there are a number of these countries, like Morocco, Tunis, the Gold Coast and Somali-land, then it might be very wise for the U.S., Britain and France to join as their co-sponsors for admission to the UN next year. It is clear that if we do not do this, the Soviets and the Bandung powers will very shortly do so.
It would appear to me that for the next two to three years in any case the Western European countries and the U.S. may expect to be in a minority on many questions in the GA. We will escape from this minority position only when some of the existing blocs begin to break up. I think we may expect the Latin American bloc to be broken at the next Assembly by some of the countries attaching themselves to Spain and others maintaining their primary loyalty to the U.S. Similarly, if additional countries could be introduced into the Afro-Asian bloc and if this bloc no longer had the common rallying point of anticolonialism, I would think that within a year or two it would tend to disintegrate under the pressures of conflicting leadership from Krishna Menon, the pro-Western leaders and the anti-Western leaders.
This solution would intensify somewhat the demands on us for assistance in economic development, but this increased pressure [Page 461] would be relatively slight compared to the political dividends we would get from sponsoring these countries for Membership and the final liquidation of the anticolonial issue.
One further thought on Membership is the possibility that we may be confronted in the next round with demands for Membership for the Baltic Soviet states. This would present more complications than were presented in the admission of the most recent group of satellites, and I think that some thought should be given now to what our policy should be in case a request for admission is received.
Another proposal, which is related to Membership, which I would like to renew is the suggestion that we make it possible for one member of every UN Delegation, other than the Satellites and the Soviets, to engage in a lecture tour throughout the U.S. at the expense of the U.S. Government. I have often been impressed by the fact that most of the people coming to the U.S. for the first time from the underdeveloped countries, because of their shortage of foreign exchange, see only New York City and, in fact, very few of them even get as far away from New York as Connecticut. It would be desirable it seems to me to expose them to a bit of New England and particularly to the beauties of the Pacific Northwest. This could be arranged through the Leadership Exchange Program of USIA, I believe. If you think the idea has any merit, I would be glad to put the suggestion in proper form for transmittal to the Department.
- Source: USUN Files, IO, Membership.↩