310/7–1654
Memorandum by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (Elbrick) to the Secretary of State
- Subject:
- Presidency of the Ninth Session of the United Nations General Assembly
You will recall that on July 1 you asked Prince Wan whether he would like to be a candidate, stating that if so we might be in a position to support him. He desired first to canvass the Latin American Delegations since he did not want to risk failure. On July 13, Prince Wan informed Mr. Murphy that he had done so, that he was optimistic [Page 556] about Latin American support, and thus had decided to be a candidate.
We assume, therefore, that we are formally committed to support Prince Wan and that this will shortly become generally known.
The only other candidate is Ambassador Van Kleffens of the Netherlands, whose probable candidacy had been made known to us informally last October by the Netherlands Foreign Minister. He has reportedly developed considerable support elsewhere, particularly in Scandinavia and Western Europe. There are some indications that the Netherlands Government may be anticipating our support as well, in view of our previous sympathetic reaction to his candidacy.
Recommendation:
On the assumption of a commitment to Prince Wan, and in order to avoid misunderstanding with the Dutch, that either Mr. Murphy or Mr. Key advise the Dutch Chargé as soon as possible of our decision to support Prince Wan.1
- Dulles initialled his approval of the recommendation.↩