865.014/11–2848: Telegram
The Ambassador in Italy (Dunn) to the Secretary of State
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4476. I appreciate consideration indicated in Gadel 584 of November 25, 1 p. m. to Paris, repeated Rome 2880 with regard to serious situation here described in mytel 4414, November 23.1 It is my duty to report to you, however, that measures envisaged therein will fall far short of meeting needs of US position re Italy. I hope Department will not underestimate importance of this issue to Italian public opinion. It may be difficult to perceive how impact of unfavorable decision re colonies could offset tangible benefits which Italian people are already deriving from cooperation with West and specifically with US. No other question outside that of Trieste (see mytel 2798, June 28)2 is as deeply felt throughout all sections of Italian public opinion. In present instance we would reverse situation that arose from our March 20 proposal re Trieste3 and give Communists their first real opportunity successfully to attack De Gasperi Government on an issue that will appeal to every Italian.
Recent press telegrams indicate great use already being made by Communists on this issue and that De Gasperi and Sforza’s concern over future of government itself is fully justified. It is my conviction that if Sforza and some of other ministers are forced to resign as a result of US stand in matter of former Italian colonies it will be impossible for any successor to Sforza in face of public reaction to continue policy of unreserved cooperation with West. We are therefore at a decisive point in future development of Italian policy. If Italian Government’s efforts which so far have been signally successful in leading Italian people towards European unity and alignment with other Western democracies is to suffer severe set-back at this critical stage, the results will not only be serious for Italy but the weakening of government’s position would affect Western European unity.
If Department’s over-all policy does not permit taking position at least as favorable to Italy as that proposed in CFM deputies September meeting, I urge that consideration of this question by the General Assembly be postponed until present Italian Government policy of [Page 967] cooperation with West has been more fully implemented and until Italian Government is therefore in a better position to meet Italian public opinion.4
- Not printed; in it Dunn reported that the Italian Government would be seriously weakened if Eritrea were given to Ethiopia and that he could not exaggerate the effect of such a decision on Italian public opinion (865.014/11–2348).↩
- Not printed.↩
- On March 20, 1948, the United States, United Kingdom, and France had proposed that Trieste be returned to Italy instead of being administered as a Free Territory. For the text of this proposal see Department of State Bulletin, March 28, 1948, p. 425. For documentation on the policy of the United States toward the Free Territory of Trieste see pp. 502 ff.↩
- On December 7, 1948, the General Committee of the General Assembly approved by a vote of 6 to 4 a proposal to reallocate the question of the disposition of the Italian Colonies from the First Committee to the Ad Hoc Political Committee. This proposal was then discussed at the 175th Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on December 8, and defeated by a vote of 31 to 11. But the First Committee, owing to the pressure of business, was unable to examine the issue and it was deferred to the second part of the third session in April–May 1949. For the text of the General Committee proposal see United Nations General Assembly, Official Records, Annexes, 1948, vol. i, p. 524. For the debate on the proposal by the General Assembly see United Nations General Assembly, Official Records, Plenary Meetings, 1948, pp. 758–766.↩