Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume V

357.AB/3–2850

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State

confidential

[Washington,] March 28, 1950.

Subject: United Nations Representative for Kashmir Dispute

Participants:	The Secretary
	Sir Oliver Shewell Franks, British Ambassador
	NEA: Mr. Mathews

Sir Oliver opened the conversation by stating that he believed that London, which had previously regarded the Indo-Pakistan situation as troublesome and difficult, had now come to the conclusion that it was extremely serious and that war might overtake India and Pakistan with disastrous results for the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, both politically and economically. It was against this background, he believed, that his Government had instructed him to present to me its view that a panel of names should be submitted to India and Pakistan from which they could indicate their preferences for the position of United Nations Representative for the Kashmir dispute. London hoped that in addition to the name of Ralph Bunche, which they proposed, the name of one other outstanding American, such as General Marshall,¹ could be included.

I commented that I was somewhat amused at the suggestion that someone like General Marshall be named as we had only one General Marshall and I was sure the President would not agree to his being proposed for the Kashmir position. I went on to say that we would find it very difficult to arouse the interest of any outstanding American in this position in view of the great difficulty which Admiral Nimitz had experienced. Mr. Mathews remarked that if a list were to be presented to the parties Admiral Nimitz’s name would certainly have to be included even though some other prominent American could be induced to lend his name.

I told Sir Oliver that it was our view that since we understood that Norman Robertson of Canada and Owen Dixon² of Australia were available for the position of UN representative, the co-sponsors of the recent Security Council resolution should choose between these two candidates and inform the Indians and Pakistanis of their choice and of their intention to submit his name to the Security Council. I had the highest regard for both Robertson and Dixon but my personal view was that Robertson might be the better qualified for this particular task. As regards the submission of a list to the parties, it seemed to me that this would occasion further delay and might result in the gradual elimination of the whole list by objections to each name by one or the other parties. Sir Oliver said that he would report my views to London.³

1. General of the Army George C. Marshall, former U.S. Secretary of State.
2. Sir Owen Dixon, former Justice of the High Court of Australia; Minister in the United States 1942–1944.
3. The cosponsors of the Security Council resolution agreed on April 4 to the selection of Dixon. It was decided that the decision would be communicated immediately to India and Pakistan by the SC President and that a meeting on the matter would be held if possible on April 12 (357.AB/4–450). On that date, the Security Council held its 471st meeting and approved the appointment of Dixon as United Nations Representative for India and Pakistan by a vote of nine in favor and two abstentions.