501.BB/8–3047: Telegram
The Acting United States Representative at the United, Nations (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
794. With reference to Department’s 379, August 27, 6 p.m., conversation last night with Secretary General Lie and four other permanent members SC regarding GA slates was general in nature with individual views as indicated below:
- 1.
- Russia. Gromyko1 asked other permanent members to consider Russia’s desire that Chairman Polish Delegation2 be elected president GA. I told him that I was confident that my government would not be [Page 110] able to support Poland for this position and said that in general we felt the personal qualifications of the individual should be a major factor in selections for all GA posts. Gromyko did not contest this idea in principle but said that he thought Modzelewski was thoroughly competent. Lie expressed opinion that Modzelewski was technically well qualified for the job. Lie also mentioned Jan Masaryk, Evatt and Aranha as individuals whom he thought should be seriously considered. He was lukewarm in his comment on Aranha because of his deficient knowledge of both English and French which he said was a serious handicap in running the Assembly. Gromyko then suggested Jan Masaryk for Committee 1.1 told him that our view was that the chairmanship of the first committee should not be held by a representative of an eastern European state twice in succession and remarked that the short special session when the Canadian was chairman could hardly be taken into consideration. Gromyko’s attitude throughout the discussion was friendly to the entire group and apparently reasonable. I told him that I would consult with the Department and give him later a more specific statement as to exactly what support we could give to eastern European states for GA posts. With respect to the SC, Gromyko said that his government would like for the Ukraine to take Poland’s place. I told him that my government preferred Czechoslovakia. He immediately countered that Czechoslovakia did not want the job and would support the Ukraine. The discussion was inconclusive on this point but Gromyko received no encouragement from any of the other members for the Ukraine candidacy. Referring to Poland’s going off the SC, he said that in the Russian view it was essential that Poland be given some other position and suggested that she might go on ECOSOC. I told him that I thought it likely that my government would support Poland’s candidacy for ECOSOC.
- 2.
- Great Britain. Cadogan3 stated that he had no instructions whatever from his government regarding GA or SC slates. …
- 3.
- China. The Chinese representative had little comment to make during the discussion on slates, but said that he thought Evatt’s candidacy should be very seriously considered for the presidency of the Assembly. I gather that the Chinese Government may have committed itself to some measure of support for Evatt, although Dr. Tsiang4 admitted in reply to a question from Lie that his government was not definitely committed. He also mentioned the desire of India to succeed Australia on the SC and indicated that if any other support for India were forthcoming that she would likewise have Chinese support. I told him quite frankly that our government would have to support [Page 111] the candidacy of Canada at this time for succession to Australia. Cadogan, Lie and I all suggested to the Chinese that India could well afford to wait another election and that if her claims were pressed there would be the rival claims of the Philippines to consider. The Chinese [representative] did not press the matter but remarked that it was very important for the Far East to be represented at least part of the time on the SC by some country in addition to China. He realized that it would not be possible to have continuously on the SC two East Asiatic representatives, but felt that there should frequently be two of these countries represented on the Council.
France. Mr. De la Tournelle, the French representative, said that he had no instructions and he took very little part in the discussion on slates.
I informed the group that my government was not willing to give any firm commitments at the present time regarding slates and that we must reserve our entire freedom to consult with other members than the Big Five. There was no criticism of this attitude and, in fact, Cadogan, Gromyko and the Chinese all said that their governments would do the same thing. There was unanimity of opinion that the agenda of the GA was overloaded and Gromyko urged strongly that thought be given to screening the agenda in the General Committee in order to postpone to the next regular session of the GA many of the items. Cadogan and Lie both strongly supported this view and I agreed that the agenda was too overloaded to offer any possibility of thorough examination of all the items. Lie feels that it is essential for the agenda to be reduced. It was arranged that this group should meet again at Lie’s house in the evening after the SC meeting on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 9.