UNP files, lot 59 D 237, “Slates”
Memorandum by Roderic L. O’Connor, Special Assistant to the Secretary of State, to the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs (Wainhouse)
- Subject:
- President of Ninth General Assembly of the United Nations
I have your memorandum of July 23 and it sets out the complete record but does not answer the question which the Secretary wished answered.
He wants an explanation of how it is that we have gotten ourselves into a position where, according to Ambassador Matthews’ cable, we have completely alienated the Dutch on this matter. The record indicates pretty clearly that we gave a lot of encouragement to the Dutch down to April 2 and very possibly there were additional appointments after that time. Mr. Key’s memorandum of May 11 indicates that Ambassador Matthews told us that the Foreign Office appeared confident of our support of Van Kleffens. The record also indicates cogent reasons as to why Prince Wan is a good choice. However, the record does not indicate that we considered the almost inevitably adverse Dutch reaction to this move, and it would certainly be deduced that if we did consider it, we rather badly underestimated it.
The result is that apparently unwittingly we have gotten ourselves into a most awkward imbroglio with one of our staunchest European friends, and the Secretary is at a loss to understand how we could have made such a mistake. It is that question the Secretary wants answered.