122. Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (Wilcox) to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Merchant)1
SUBJECT
- Request of Sir Leslie Munro for an appointment
Discussion:
Sir Leslie Munro, UN Special Representative on Hungary, has an appointment at 11:00 a.m. January 9 to discuss the Hungarian situation and his role in particular. I and a representative from EUR (Mr. Nunley) will accompany him.
Since my talk with Sir Leslie on December 23 (Tab A2), I understand he has talked with the UK about his future activities and the Hungarian problem in general and he will probably wish to inform us of the British views. Based on my December 23 conversation with him, Sir Leslie can be expected to inquire what the U.S. position is concerning: (1) recognition of the status quo in Eastern Europe in the absence of genuine concessions from the Communist side; and (2) future UN action on Hungary including his activities and the duration of his mission. In spite of the generally satisfactory results of the debate on Hungary at the 14th GA, Sir Leslie was disturbed by the agreement of the U.S. and the other Free World UN members to accept Hungary as a member of the UN Outer Space Committee and was therefore worried that the West, in the interest of improved relations with the Soviet Union, would agree to the status quo in Eastern Europe.
I assured him on December 23 that acceptance of Hungary on the Outer Space Committee was distasteful to us and that we had gone back to our friends and allies on this point during the negotiations with the USSR. However, the consensus was that since the USSR had not attempted to name the 12 Free World members we could not very well attempt to name the 7 Soviet bloc members once agreement had been reached on the 12–7–5 ratio. I also said that, while we could not tell at this time exactly what sort of UN action on Hungary would be desirable at the 15th GA, in view of continued Soviet and Hungarian disregard of UN resolutions and efforts, we were unlikely to modify our basic position on Hungary.
[Page 216]Sir Leslie is planning to depart for Europe in the near future and is contemplating making a public appeal while there to the Hungarian authorities for permission to visit Hungary pursuant to his mandate.
Recommendation:
When you see Sir Leslie that you: (a) congratulate him on his report (Tab B) to the 14th GA; (b) express our gratification at his willingness to continue as UN Special Representative; (c) assure him that, although no one can be certain as to what will result from the summit conference, we are not prepared to recognize the status quo in Eastern Europe; (d) that we have no present indication that the summit talks will bring any basic change in the Hungarian situation; and (e) that our acceptance of Hungary on the Outer Space Committee has no special political significance and is not inconsistent with our basic policy. If Sir Leslie requests your views as to the propriety of his appealing publicly to the present Hungarian regime for permission to visit Hungary, I recommend that you say we have no objection to this initiative.3
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 320/1–860. Secret. Drafted by Newlin, initialed by Wallner for Wilcox, and sent to Merchant through S/S. Concurred in by Nunley and Vedeler.↩
- Neither of the tabs is attached. Tab A has not been found. For text of Tab B, see U.N. doc. A/4304.↩
- No record of Merchant’s meeting with Munro has been found.↩