407. Editorial Note
On September 23, while attending the U.N. General Assembly’s 15th regular session, Secretary of State Herter, British Foreign Secretary Lord Home, and French Foreign Minister Couve de Murville met to discuss Laos. An account of their meeting is in a memorandum of conversation, September 23. (Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Miscellaneous Material; included in the microfiche supplement)
The basis for the discussions were recommendations of a tripartite Under Secretaries’ working group, composed of Livingston Merchant and J. Graham Parsons for the United States, Charles Lucet for France, and Sir Frederick Hoyer Millar for the United Kingdom. The Under Secretaries’ working group recommended a series of “common objectives” in Laos: preventing the collapse of the country from internal or external aggression; preventing strife between non-Communist elements; preserving Laos’ territorial unity and the nation; and conserving Laos’ ability to resist Communism both from within and from the outside so that it would remain “neutral but friendly to the West.” As a means of achieving these objectives, the Under Secretaries suggested independent but parallel action which included close consultation among the three nations’ diplomatic representatives in Vientiane and Bangkok, the use of Hammarskjöld’s informal influence to maintain Lao unity, and an effort to make known the three nations’ concern for Lao unity and respect for constitutional procedures. The working group also concluded that it would be a mistake for the U.N. Security Council to seize upon what was a Lao internal matter.
The Under Secretaries also discussed the subsidiary problem of the Thai blockade of the Lao border, in effect since early August, which had resulted in a critical shortage of petroleum in Laos. The working group recommended that the three nations’ representatives in [Page 865] Bangkok try to convince the Thai Government that such a petroleum shortage only benefited the Communist cause. The three Foreign Ministers accepted these recommendations with minimal discussion.
Accounts of the meetings of the Under Secretaries’ working group are in Secto 5, 9, and 10, September 22, 24, and 24, respectively. (Department of State, Central Files, 751J.00/9–2260, 751J.00/9–2460, and 751J.00/9–2460, respectively; all included in the microfiche supplement)