UNP files, lot 59 D 237, “Membership”
Memorandum by the Director of the Office of United Nations Political and Security Affairs (Wainhouse) to the Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs (Hickerson)1
- Subject:
- Decision on Membership Policy
Mr. Hyde informed us last weekend of the following developments:
- 1.
- The French have received new instructions authorizing them to accept a general membership deal;
- 2.
- Senator Lodge is attracted to the idea and will probably write a letter today to the Secretary suggesting a re-examination of the whole membership policy with the idea of his negotiating a Big 5 agreement.
Since the special Assembly committee on membership will begin work almost immediately, and since both the Secretary and Ambassador Lodge plan to be away for some time after this week, a decision will be necessary this week.
We think the most serious questions involved in this probably relate to Chinese representation, unless an armistice becomes more remote or unless the Chinese Communists are condemned as aggressors in Indochina. Pressure on our Chinese representation policy is already strong and will become more serious by the next Assembly. It is suggested that [Page 940] the least we could do—if a decision is reached to embark on a course of seeking large-scale membership agreement—would be to insist upon assurances from other friendly and important countries that there will be no linking of the membership problem with the seating of the Chinese Communists.2
We have studied other possible combinations, having in view a “Missouri Compromise” arrangement in which fewer states would be admitted now on a 3–1 ratio. However, there seems to be no formula under which this ratio could be maintained. The most logical approach would be to take Europe first and then Asia, but the Soviet ratio is too high in Europe and we would thus be giving up our bargaining power before securing the admission of Japan. What we therefore come to is a fully inclusive arrangement with the possibility of postponing action on the divided states.