108. Memorandum of a Conversation, Department of State, Washington, August 24, 19551

SUBJECT

  • Meeting with the Secretary on Wednesday Afternoon, August 24 on Tenth General Assembly Problems

PRESENT

  • The Secretary
  • Mr. McCardle2 (for part of the meeting)
  • Mr. Wainhouse3
  • Mr. Bond4
  • Miss Gough

[Here follow sections 1–8.]

9. New Guinea

The Secretary said he very strongly opposed Indonesia’s getting control of New Guinea. This might not always be the case if a strong and stable government should emerge in Indonesia, but under present conditions for the territory to come under the control of Indonesia was neither in our interests nor in the interests of the inhabitants of New Guinea. He recognized, on the other hand, that an important political factor was the emergence of a slightly better government in Indonesia which he would not want to rebuff. The Secretary said that if a resolution failed of adoption in the Assembly, without our being tagged with its defeat, he would not mind at all. No decision was taken on the position paper5 pending, inter alia, Sir Percy Spender’s conversation with the Secretary on this subject.6

[Here follows the remainder of the memorandum.]

  1. Source: Department of State, Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 64 D 199. Secret. Drafted by Betty Gough of UNP on August 29.
  2. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Carl W. McCardle.
  3. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs David W. Wainhouse.
  4. Niles Bond, Director of the Office of United Nations Political and Security Affairs.
  5. Reference is presumably to a position paper prepared for the Tenth Session of the General Assembly entitled “Western New Guinea (West Irian)”, August 24, which called for continued U.S. neutrality. (SD/A/C.1/August 24; Department of State, Central Files, 320/8–2355) A memorandum of August 24 from Bell to Sebald stated that the position paper, drafted in IO, had been cleared by FE but not by EUR, which wished to postpone a decision until after the Netherlands and Australian Ambassadors had called on the Secretary. (Ibid., 656.56D13/8–2455)
  6. A second and presumably final position paper, entitled “Western New Guinea”, recommended, as did the August 24 paper, that the U.S. Delegation should abstain in the voting on any resolution relating to New Guinea and refrain from involvement in behind-the-scenes negotiations; and, if asked, state that U.S. neutrality did not imply that other delegations should follow the same policy. (SD/A/C.l/September 17; Ibid., 320/9–1755)