Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945

UNA Files

The Special Assistant to the Secretary of State (Pasvolsky) to the Secretary of State ¹

[Washington,] January 23, 1945.

Memorandum for the Secretary

Subject: Recommended Action on Points Which Must Be Decided at The Three-Power Meeting

1. Text of the voting provisions: Adoption of the President’s formula with slight modification as to Chapter VIII, Section C. (Text attached)²

2. International Trusteeships: Decision that provisions for the establishment of trusteeship machinery within the framework of the proposed organization will be included in the Charter and that the sponsoring Governments will consult with each other before the Conference as to detailed proposals on this subject. (Memorandum attached)³

3. Position of France: Decision that France should become the fifth sponsoring power.

4. Nations to be Invited: Decision that invitations be issued to the same 44 nations which had been invited to the Hot Springs, Atlantic City and Bretton Woods Conferences. (List attached)⁴

5. Time and Place of Conference: Decision that the Conference be held in the United States (exact location to be left for future determination). Tentative decision as to time, subject to later consultation with China and France and possibly other countries.

6. Form of Invitation: Decision that invitations be issued by the United States on behalf of the five sponsoring Powers in the form of the attached draft.⁵

7. Consultation with China and France: Authorization for the United States to consult with China and France on behalf of Britain and the Soviet Union to obtain Chinese and French agreement to the above points.

8. Public Announcements: Statement at the meeting along the lines of the attached draft.³ No further publicity until final decision has been reached on the form of invitation, at which time the texts of the invitation and of the completed proposals would be made public upon their transmission to the governments invited.⁶

[Attachment 1]

International Trusteeship

I

background

1. A chapter on trusteeship should be included in the Charter of the International Organization for the following reasons:

a. The liquidation of the League will require some disposition of the mandated territories which were placed under its supervision as a “sacred trust of civilization”.

b. At the end of this war there may possibly be other territories detached from enemy states for which international supervision may be considered desirable.

c. There may also be other territories which it might be advisable to place under trusteeship by mutual agreement.

d. There is a strong feeling in this country that dependent territories should not be the subject of barter but should be the concern of the whole world community.

It was the understanding at Dumbarton Oaks that the question of trusteeship, although not taken up at that time, was a proper subject for discussion among the governments represented there, and that in due course the sponsoring governments would consult with each other and perhaps exchange papers on the subject in order to save time at the Conference itself. Other governments have subsequently suggested the inclusion of arrangements for dependent territories.

2. The view was expressed informally to us by Colonel Stanley that other colonial powers might at this stage be brought into the consultations on international arrangements affecting dependent territories. It is our view, however, that such consultations at this stage should be confined to the states participating in the Dumbarton Oaks Conversations. The British position is clearly designed to win support from other states with colonies in order to offset the support which, they anticipate, the United States will receive from the Soviet Union and China.

3. Our desire that only general principles and procedures relating to international trusteeship be discussed at present is based upon the view that territorial dispositions should be left for consideration until the end of hostilities. We consider it of the utmost importance, nevertheless, to get an agreement on the principle of trusteeship, in order that our basic distinction between trust territories and all other dependencies may be maintained. Colonel Stanley made it clear that the British wish to eliminate this distinction, a procedure which we would regard as retrogressive.

4. We have long felt that, as indispensable parts of an over-all program, a complete system for dependencies would provide for:

a. Creation of a trusteeship mechanism by which the International Organization would assume direct responsibility for the administration of certain dependent territories, in order to promote the social, economic, and political advancement of the peoples of trust territories and to enable these territories to contribute to international peace and security;

b. Establishment of regional advisory commissions for dependent territories generally, on the model of the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission, which would include the states administering dependencies in the particular region and other states having major strategic or economic interests therein; and

c. Adoption of a general declaration of principles designed to establish minimum political, economic, and social standards for all non-self-governing territories, whether colonies, protectorates, or trust territories.

5. The British probably will propose regional advisory commissions as the sole device for expressing international responsibility with respect to dependent territories. Regional commissions, in their view, could be employed to discharge, through consultation, a limited international accountability for the administration of dependent territories. In our view, regional commissions are desirable, but only as one part of an over-all international system.

II

recommendations

We recommend that at the forthcoming talks decisions be reached that:

1. There should be included in the Charter of the General International Organization a chapter on Trusteeship Arrangements;

2. The sponsoring governments consult with each other before the Conference as to the detailed proposals which should be made on this subject, and prepare a draft text.

These proposals should deal only with the principles and the mechanism which should govern these trusteeship arrangements. They should not be concerned at this stage with specific territories to be placed under trusteeship or with the disposition or allocation of particular territories.

A general Declaration of Standards and Regional Advisory Commissions should be regarded as additions to and not substitutions for the Trusteeship Arrangement. These, however, may also need to be discussed at the Conference and decisions taken as to how they might be related to each other, and perhaps to the General Organization.

[Attachment 2]

Draft⁷

Communiqué To Be Issued Jointly and Signed by the President, Prime Minister Churchill and Marshal Stalin

The proposals for the general international organization resulting from the informal conversations at Dumbarton Oaks have been considered, and agreed proposals have been worked out on the major points left open at those conversations. Our views are being transmitted to the Government of China and to the Provisional Government of the French Republic for their consideration. When these consultations have been completed, invitations to a United Nations Conference will be issued at which time the full text of the proposals to be laid before the Conference as a basis of discussion will be made public.

1. Carbon copy. This memorandum and its attachments are all attachments to the memorandum of Pasvolsky dated January 23, 1945, on the subject of the “Emergency High Commission for Liberated Europe”, post, p. 101. This memorandum and the attached paper entitled “International Trusteeship” were published in Postwar Foreign Policy Preparation, pp. 661–663.
2. Not printed. This attachment is an intermediate draft between the Briefing Book paper of January 15, 1945, printed post, pp. 89–90, and the undated United States Delegation memorandum printed post, pp. 648–686. It comprises that portion of the text of the United States Delegation memorandum beginning with the heading and ending with the words “Under the above formula”; and it continues from that point with the text of the Briefing Book paper after the opening phrase of that paper, “Under the voting formula proposed by the President”. A penciled endorsement on the attachment, in the handwriting of Alger Hiss, reads, “As given to Brit & Sov. Ambs. about Jan. 15 (redrafted order of presentation under II in Marrakech)”. The redraft here referred to is presumably the undated United States Delegation memorandum above mentioned.
3. Infra.
4. Not printed as such. This attachment, entitled “List of Nations Which Were Invited to the United Nations Conferences at Hot Springs, Atlantic City and Bretton Woods”, is identical with the paper printed post, pp. 747–748.
5. Not printed as such. This attachment, entitled “Draft Invitation”, is textually the same as the United States Delegation draft invitation printed post, p. 818, without the modifications and insertions introduced therein by Alger Hiss.
3. Infra.
6. Also attached to this memorandum, but not printed, is a memorandum from Pasvolsky to the Secretary of State dated January 23, 1945, on the subject of “Recommended Action to Follow Decisions Made at The Three-Power Meeting”, to which two further memorandums are attached, one entitled “Memorandum Concerning Possible Sites for the Security Conference” and the other entitled “Discussion of Composition of United States Delegation”.
7. The source text is a typewritten carbon copy which bears penciled alterations in the handwriting of Alger Hiss. The text is here printed as typed. The text as altered in pencil is identical with the text printed post, p. 795.