Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Eastern Europe, Volume XXV

259. Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (Wilcox) to the Secretary of State¹

Washington, July 18, 1957.

SUBJECT

• Hungary: US Objectives in General Assembly Consideration of Report on Hungary

In response to the Acting Secretary’s request of July 5,² the following recommendations are made for the United States objectives when the General Assembly reconvenes to consider the report of the Special Committee on Hungary. Since the Eleventh General Assembly is not expected to reconvene before mid-September, we believe the lines of the United States position, including a resolution on which the 24 co-sponsors could agree, should not be made final until nearer the time of the session and in the light of our consultations with other delegations, particularly the co-sponsors.

1. In general, our objectives at the reconvened Eleventh General Assembly should be:

(a) To exploit to the maximum the conclusions of the Special Committee’s report as a critical point-by-point refutation of the soviet version of events in Hungary last fall.

(b) To seek the adoption of a General Assembly resolution which would put the weight of world opinion, and in particular, Asian opinion, in support of the Committee’s report and conclusions which are damaging to the Soviet position in the world.

(c) To maintain at the reconvened Eleventh General Assembly session the position already taken by the Assembly last March when it neither rejected nor approved the Hungarian credentials, but to consult with UN Members at the Twelfth General Assembly convening one week later with a view to determining whether rejection of Hungarian credentials is advisable and, if so, has sufficient support.

(d) To utilize as fully as possible, without endangering our and other Western missions in Budapest, any information suitable for use in Ambassador Lodge’s statements which focuses on current repressions and trials in Hungary.

2. The attached resolution³ is designed to achieve maximum support within the Assembly, and is intended as a basis for initiating consultations with other delegations at a reasonably early date. In addition to endorsing this report and calling upon the USSR and Hungary to desist from repressive measures against the Hungarian people, it provides for renewing the mandate of the Special Committee so that it may continue to observe the Hungarian situation and to report as appropriate. In view of the fact that the Ceylonese Ambassador, who served on the Special Committee, has been reprimanded by his Government for agreeing to the report, we may find that the composition of the Committee must be changed, a new Committee may be necessary, or that it would be inadvisable to engender unnecessary discussion by attempting to provide for the renewal of the Committee’s mandate in the resolution since the Committee would remain technically in existence.

3. As regards the question of the credentials of the Hungarian delegation at any reconvened session, we believe the position taken at the Eleventh General Assembly should be maintained. This would be without prejudice to action we might seek at the 12th GA. The Assembly adopted the report of the Credentials Committee which neither approved nor rejected the credentials of the Hungarian delegation. This position should be maintained because: (a) a decision has already been taken by the Eleventh General Assembly on this question and a motion to reconsider the Assembly’s action in this regard would require a two-thirds vote which would be very difficult to obtain; (b) an effort to reconsider and reject the credentials of the Hungarian delegation at any reconvened session would deflect attention from the report; and (c) the airing of the report at the Eleventh General Assembly might have a favorable effect on some governments, and they may be more disposed to consider afresh and sympathetically the question of credentials in the early days of the 12th General Assembly.

The question of the possible rejection of the Hungarian credentials at the 12th General Assembly is being studied further and recommendations will be made in a subsequent staff study⁴ which will include the principal advantages and disadvantages of such action from the point of view of the interests of the United States.

It is our present view the most serious objection to the rejection of the Hungarian credentials is the implication which such action would have with respect to the status of the Western missions in Budapest, including, most importantly, the continuation of diplomatic relations with Hungary. We believe that, rather than challenging directly the legality of the Kadar regime on the basis of the Special Committee’s comments and findings, it may be preferable to focus primary attention on the intervention of the Soviet Union which was solely responsible for the installation of the puppet Kadar regime against the clear will of the Hungarian people and to emphasize that the Soviet Union, upon whom the Kadar regime is completely dependent for its existence, bears the onus of that regime’s unrepresentative character and its repressive policies.

It is questionable in view of the diplomatic implications of rejection of the Hungarian credentials that sufficient voting support for such action would be forthcoming. Moreover, the rejection of the Hungarian credentials could have an effect on our position on Chinese representation. On the basis of past practice, the report of the Credentials Committee has required only a simple majority for GA approval. Should we maintain that only a simple majority of the Assembly were required to reject the Hungarian credentials, this would constitute a serious precedent as to the voting requirement for the rejection of the Chinese credentials. In order to protect ourselves on the question of Chinese representation, we would likely have to maintain that the rejection of Hungary’s credentials required a two-thirds vote. In these circumstances, it would give credence to the view already expressed by India at the last General Assembly that our moratorium motion on the Chinese representation question failed of adoption because the 47 votes it received was just short of two-thirds of those present and voting members.

4. We intend to exploit to the maximum extent materials concerning current repressive actions of the Kadar regime. We have asked R and the CIA, through the OCB mechanism, to assist in the collection of such material as may be available.

Recommendation:

That you approve the foregoing objectives as those to be sought by the US when the 11th General Assembly reconvenes to consider the report of the Special Committee on Hungary.⁵

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 764.00/7–1857. Confidential. Drafted by Sisco; concurred in by EE, EUR, P, and Murphy.
2. Herter instructed IO “to make firm recommendations on U.S. objectives in any reconvened session of the General Assembly on Hungary.” (Notes of Acting Secretary’s Staff Meeting by Greene, July 5; ibid., Secretary’s Staff Meetings: Lot 63 D 75)
3. Not printed.
4. Document 263.
5. Dulles initialed his approval on July 24. The Department sent the approved recommendations to New York in telegram 73 to USUN, July 26. (Ibid., Central Files, 320.5764/7–2357)