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  4. Document 315

315. Memorandum of Conversation1

SecDel/MC/6
New York, November 30, 1964, 1 p.m.

SECRETARY’S DELEGATION TO THE NINETEENTH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

New York, November 1964

SUBJECT

  • UN Charter

PARTICIPANTS

  • U.S.
    • The Secretary
    • Ambassador Stevenson
    • Ambassador Thompson
    • Mr. Cleveland
    • Mr. R.H. Davis
    • Mr. A. Akalovsky
  • U.S.S.R.
    • Mr. Gromyko
    • Mr. Semenov
    • Ambassador Dobrynin
    • Ambassador Fedorenko
    • Mr. Smirnovskiy
    • Mr. Sukhodrev

At one point during the conversation at the table, Mr. Gromyko asked Governor Stevenson whether, in his view, the UN Charter could be negotiated today if a hypothetical situation requiring such action were to arise. Governor Stevenson responded in the negative, to which Mr. Gromyko said that he was of the same opinion. He believed that only in the atmosphere prevailing right after the war had it been possible to succeed in drafting a Charter.

The Secretary observed that he was also of the same opinion, but noted that obviously some improvements could be made in the Charter in the light of experience to date. He thought it might be useful to have very informal conversations between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. to see what changes, if any, might be desirable. Mr. Gromyko did not respond to this.

  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, United Nations, Memoranda of Conversation. Confidential. Drafted by Alexander Akalovsky on November 30 and approved in S on December 8. The memorandum is Part I of VI. The meeting took place at the Secretary’s Suite in the Waldorf Astoria during a luncheon.↩