Office of the Historian

IO files, SD/A/332

Position Paper Prepared in the Department of State for the united States Delegation to the Ninth Regular Session of the General Assembly

confidential
[Washington,] September 14, 1954.

Election of the President, Vice-President and Committee Chairmen

the problem

At the beginning of the session the Assembly will elect a President, seven Vice-Presidents and Chairmen of the seven Main Committees. These fifteen posts constitute the General Committee. In the past, the permanent members of the Security Council have been elected to five of the Vice-Presidencies, and the remaining posts have generally been distributed as follows: three or four to Latin America; three or four to the Near and Far East; and one each to the British Commonwealth, Western Europe and the Soviet bloc.

[Page 591]

united states position

1. The general objective of the United States is to assure the election of competent presiding officers and to assure a safe balance of friendly members in the General Committee on major issues like Chinese representation.

2. The United States should vote for Prince Wan of Thailand for President. However, it should not lobby for him or against Van Kleffens of the Netherlands.

3. The present United States slate on the Vice-Presidencies and Committee chairmen is as follows:

Vice-Presidents—

1.
China
2.
France
3.
United Kingdom
4.
4. United States
5.
5. ______*
6.
6. Suitable Latin American choice (probably Ecuador)
7.
7. Greece or either Indonesia or Burma

Committee Chairmen

  • Committee 1—Suitable Latin American choice (probably Urrutia of Colombia)
  • Ad Hoc Political Committee—Thors (Iceland)
  • Committee 2—Copeland (Australia)
  • Committee 3—Nosek of Czechoslovakia is now the only candidate and will probably be elected. However the United States should vote for a non-Soviet candidate if one is nominated.
  • Committee 4—Asha (Syria) unless a more suitable candidacy develops with a good chance of success.
  • Committee 5—Suitable Pakistani or other candidate
  • Committee 6—Suitable Latin American choice (probably Bolivian)
  1. The Soviet Union will undoubtedly be elected a Vice-President since the permanent members of the Security Council have traditionally held that office. However, the United States should not vote for the Soviet Union and its ballot should therefore contain six instead of seven states for Vice-Presidents. [Footnote in the source text.]↩