Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, General; the United Nations, Volume I, Part 1

501.BC/8–3148

Memorandum of Conversation by the Secretary of State

confidential

[Washington,] August 31, 1948.

Participants:	The Greek Ambassador
	The Secretary of State
	Mr. Jernegan, GTI

Ambassador Dendramis said that he wished to consult me regarding the possibility of obtaining for Greece the seat on the Security Council which will be vacated by Syria at the end of this year. He said that Greece believed it could obtain the support of some of the Latin American countries, some of the Arab states, and probably Turkey. If it could also obtain the support of the United States and one or two other great powers, it would seek election to the Council. However, the Greek Government did not wish to take any step without being assured of the approval of the United States and he therefore wished to get our informal reaction to the idea.

I said that, speaking frankly, I could tell him we had received a number of requests of this kind and so far had merely been noting them while deferring any decision until a little later. I had not consulted anyone in the Department regarding the Greek request and was not prepared to give a definite answer at this moment. Speaking offhand and for myself alone, my first reaction was that it might be an embarrassment to Greece to be part of the Security Council at a time when she was a party to an important case before the UN. I did not know whether any state had ever been elected to the Council in such circumstances, and it might not necessarily be an insuperable obstacle. Certainly Egypt and the other Arab states were equally involved in cases now pending. Nevertheless, as a practical matter it could be rather a disadvantage rather than an advantage for Greece to be a Council member while her case was actively under consideration. Mr. Jernegan pointed out, and I agreed, that if Greece were a member of the Council, the eastern European states, especially Yugoslavia, Albania, and Bulgaria, might be even more intractable with respect to the UN than they had shown themselves to be hitherto.

The Ambassador emphasized that he was merely requesting our views for the guidance of the Greek Government. If we were favorably disposed, Greece would seek to persuade Turkey not to put forward its own candidacy but to support Greece. If this were not possible, Greece would ask the Turkish Government to give up its seat on the Economic and Social Council in favor of Greece. Mr. Dendramis asserted in this connection that a tradition had been established in the UN whereby no one of the small nations was to hold a seat on more than one of the major Councils at one time. In conclusion I again told the Ambassador that I was not giving him a definite answer at this time and that the Department would give further consideration to the Greek interest in this matter.¹

1. In a telegram to the U.S. Delegation at Paris on September 24 (Gadel 54), the Department cabled that “Greek Amb has inquired further [September 22; memorandum of conversation, not printed] re possibility our supporting Greek candidacy for Syrian seat SC, mentioning possibility Arab support if Egypt unsuccessful. Dept informing him final decisions on US votes will be made US Del which has full info.” (501.BC/9–2448)