Office of the Historian

320/7–2854

Memorandum by the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs (Wainhouse) to the Secretary of States Special Assistant (O’Connor)

confidential
[Washington,] July 28, 1954.
  • Subject:
  • Presidency of Ninth General Assembly.

In response to your memorandum of July 24, the sharp reaction of the Dutch to our decision to support Prince Wan for President of the Ninth General Assembly was due to:

1.
The belief that the Dutch had what they called a “moral commitment” from us to support Van Kleffens. The conversations which our various officers have had with the Dutch on this matter indicate that we gave them no moral commitment or any other commitment for that matter.
2.
The belief that the Presidency of the Ninth General Assembly should go to a European.

The Assistant Secretaries (Messrs. Key and Robertson, Barbour vice Merchant, Kennedy vice Byroade) met with Mr. Murphy on June 30 and unanimously recommended to the Secretary that if Prince Wan is a candidate for the Presidency we should support him. Ambassador Lodge had previously recommended our support for Wan either for the Presidency or the Security Council (see Tab A—USUN telegram 678, April 30).

[Page 571]

The recommendation of Mr. Murphy and the Assistant Secretaries was believed to be in line with what the Secretary had in mind on the need for all the support we can get in Southeast Asia. The discussion at the June 30 meeting did take into consideration the possible sharp reaction of the Dutch, but this it was felt was one of the risks that had to be taken to attain what was thought to be the Secretary’s objective.

I suspect that the sharp reaction of the Dutch is designed to prompt us to reverse our stand on Prince Wan or, short of that, not to campaign for him.

While we have taken the decision to support Prince Wan, Mr. Murphy and Mr. Bonbright, whose views I share, believe we ought not to campaign or lobby for him. We are not committed to campaign for Prince Wan. This I desire to discuss with the other Assistant Secretaries and submit in due course a recommendation to the Secretary for his approval.

David W. Wainhouse