Office of the Historian

500. CC/7–545

No. 184
The British Minister (Balfour) to the Director of European Affairs (Matthews)

top secret
Washington, July 5th, 1945.

Dear Doc, I send you herewith a paraphrase of a telegram just received from London in which the addition of two subjects to the agenda for Terminal is suggested.

Would you let me know whether the United States Government have any comments on these suggestions.

Yours ever

Jock Balfour
[Enclosure]

Paraphrase of a Message Sent From Foreign Office to Lord Halifax Dated 5th July

It now seems to us that it will in addition be necessary to discuss under the heading “General”1 the question of the allocation of posts in the Executive Committee and Preparatory Commission of the United Nations. No decision was reached on this point at the first meeting of the Preparatory Commission2 and it is evident that we must, if possible, get agreement as between the Big Five on at any rate the posts of Chairman of the Executive Committee and Executive Secretary before the Executive Committee meets at the beginning of August. If agreement can be reached as between the three Heads of Governments at Terminal, the French and Chinese might be approached before the end of the month, and there should then be little difficulty in getting the Executive Committee to agree at its first [Page 223] meeting on whatever may be arranged as between the Big Five. It is therefore proposed to add in this connection as 1 (e) the following point: “Allocation of posts on the Executive Committee and Preparatory Commission”.

We also feel that it might well be desirable to have a preliminary discussion on the seat of the World Organisation. This item is on the agenda of the Executive Committee and it may well come up for examination during August. The meeting of the three Heads of Governments seems well suited for a general exchange of views on this important point, but it is felt that no final decision should be taken there since the views of other countries will obviously have to be taken into account.

It is proposed therefore to add the following point as 1 (f) to the existing agenda:

“Preliminary exchange of views regarding the seat of the World Organisation”.

  1. See the subattachment to document No. 179.↩
  2. Held at San Francisco, June 27, 1945. See The United Nations Conference on International Organization: Selected Documents, p. 987.↩