500.CC (PC)/7–2845
No. 740
Memorandum by the President’s
Personal Representative (Stettinius)1
Memorandum of Conversation
| Participants: | Mr. E. R. Stettinius, Jr. |
| Mr. John Balfour British Minister |
Mr. John Balfour, British Minister, called upon me this afternoon at his request at my apartment at 2:30. He stated he had just received a wire dated July 26 from London this morning in which he was instructed by the Foreign Office to call on me and inquire whether [Page 640] or not we would be willing to agree to have the chairmanship of the executive committee of the interim commission2 rotate between the five.3 He stated that their first position would be to have one chairman, presumably a Soviet chairman, but if they could not agree on one, he asked if we would agree to rotate.
I stated that Mr. Dunn had a memorandum4 with him at Potsdam on this subject and it was our thinking also that this was the best procedure—we should try for one chairman but if we couldn’t get agreement on one we would then accept rotation. I said, however, that I had heard that Mr. Jebb had flown to Potsdam yesterday on this subject and, of course, our delegation in Potsdam was prepared to deal with the whole subject right there on the ground. He said that was most satisfactory and he would communicate that to the Foreign Office.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
- Printed from an unsigned carbon copy forwarded by Stettinius on July 28 to Alger Hiss, Director of the Office of Special Political Affairs.↩
- i. e., the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations.↩
- i. e., China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States.↩
- Document No. 255, printed in vol. i.↩