197. Letter From Certain Heads of State to the President1

Mr. President: We have the honour to bring to your attention that, in view of the present tension in international relations and confident that Your Excellency, your Government and the people of your great country are keenly desirous to reduce this tension and pave the way for the consolidation of peace, it is our intention to submit for the immediate consideration of the present session of the General Assembly a draft resolution of which the text is enclosed.

We trust that this endeavour on our part will receive your early and sympathetic consideration.

We avail ourselves of this opportunity to renew to Your Excellency the assurances of our high esteem.

Kwame Nkrumah
President of Ghana

Jawaharlal Nehru
Prime Minister of India

A Sukarno
President of Indonesia

Gamal Abdel Nasser
President of the United Arab Republic

JB Tito
President of Yugoslavia

[Attachment]

Draft U.N. General Assembly Resolution

New York, September 29, 1960.

The General Assembly

Deeply Concerned with the recent deterioration in international relations which threatens the world with grave consequences, [Page 371] Aware of the great expectancy of the world that this Assembly will assist in helping to prepare the way for the easing of world tension,

Conscious of the grave and urgent responsibility that rests on the United Nations to initiate helpful efforts,

Requests, as a first urgent step, the President of the United States of America and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to renew their contacts interrupted recently so that their declared willingness to find solutions of the outstanding problems by negotiation may be progressively implemented.

  1. Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204. Attached to the source text was a copy of a September 30 memorandum from Stoessel to Goodpaster which stated that the Yugoslav Ambassador had handed the letter to Wadsworth at 10:10 a.m., September 30, that Khrushchev was also to receive a copy, and that there were indications its text would soon be released to the press. The text of the letter and its attachment were circulated to other U.N. members in U.N. doc. A4522. For Eisenhower’s remarks on the letter, see Waging Peace, 1956–1961, pp. 586–588.