Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, United Nations and General International Matters, Volume II

60. Memorandum From the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (Henderson) to the Under Secretary of State (Herter)¹

Washington, January 16, 1959.

SUBJECT

• United States Support for Ambassador Dorsinville of Haiti as President of Trusteeship Council

In accordance with your request for background on the reasons why the United States is supporting Ambassador Max Dorsinville of Haiti for Presidency of the Trusteeship Council for 1959,² the following is submitted for your information:

1. In equity, this year it is the turn of a non-administering member to hold the Presidency. If Italy were to be elected in 1959, there would have been no non-administering President during 1957, 1958 and 1959 except for two months in early 1958 when Ambassador Arenales of Guatemala held the office. He was recalled by his Government and was replaced by Belgium as Acting President for the remainder of 1958.

2. With the expansion of UN membership, the balance of power in the General Assembly has shifted somewhat to the non-administering side, resulting in loss of prestige by the Trusteeship Council—a balanced organ, but one which the majority of General Assembly members consider to be dominated by the Administering Authorities.

3. We believe Ambassador Dorsinville will be an excellent President, because of his relative moderation and sincere endeavors to find compromises in difficult situations. Moreover, he deserves the Presidency because of his many services to the Trusteeship Council and the international community as Chairman of UN Visiting Missions to Trust Territories and as UN Commissioner to supervise the 1958 elections in French Togo. This year may well be his last chance, inasmuch as Haiti will probably go off the Council at the end of 1959. If elected, he would also be the first person of the Negro race to serve as President of an important UN organ.

4. Most importantly, we believe Ambassador Dorsinville can materially influence the decisions taken by the resumed 13th Session of the General Assembly which will consider the future of the two Cameroons. For example, he could assist greatly in obtaining General Assembly acceptance of the Reports of the UN Visiting Mission to these two Trust Territories (which are scheduled to become independent in 1960). These Reports will be fair and moderate and will have the unanimous agreement of the United States member, who was Chairman, and of the Indian, New Zealand and Haitian members. The recommendations of the Trusteeship Council thereon, if acceptable to the General Assembly, will minimize the risk that the latter will pay undue heed to the demands of the UPC (Union des Population du Cameroun), the dissolved Communist oriented party in French Cameroon. If the UPC were to come to power on the basis of General Assembly support, the West’s position in the Cameroons would be seriously weakened.

5. While we highly esteem the Italian representative, Minister Vitelli, we believe that, having just joined the Council, he will make a more effective President after having served a year on it. We do not agree with his contention that 1959 will be the last year in which the Presidency will bring credit and prestige to his Government. On the contrary, we believe that 1960 will be a crucial year, because it will see the termination of trusteeship for four trust territories in Africa, including Italian Somaliland. While our policy is to make no commitments for future support, we believe Minister Vitelli, if he serves as Vice President in 1959, would be in an excellent position to obtain the Presidency in 1960. Withdrawal of his candidacy for the Presidency this year would be a very generous act, well received by the non-administering members of the UN. We believe it would increase Italian prestige in the UN.³

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 350/1–1659. Confidential. Drafted by Feld; cleared in substance with Warner, Monsma, ARA, and WE; initialed by Henderson; and sent through Calhoun. The handwritten notation “Good explanation C.A.H.” appears on the source text.
2. The referenced request has not been found. Telegram 600 to USUN stated that the United States would support Dorinsville and instructed the mission to inform the Italian Delegation of this decision. (ibid., 350/1–959)
3. Telegram 2123 from Rome, January 21, reported that the Italian Foreign Office informed the Embassy in Rome that Italy would withdraw its candidacy for President of the Trusteeship Council. (ibid., 350/1–1259) Brosio informed Wilcox of the Italian Government’s decision on January 22. A memorandum of their conversation is ibid., 350/1–2259.