207. Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (Cleveland) to Secretary of State Rusk1
SUBJECT
- Notes on Adlai Stevenson Visit, June 5
Ambassador Stevenson spent June 5 in staff discussions here in the Department, and had a visit with the President at the White House. The following notes will indicate the main questions discussed:
1. General Assembly Delegation.
Six of the positions in the General Assembly Delegation are pretty well set: the five “regulars” at USUN (Stevenson, Plimpton, Yost, Klutznick, Bingham) and Marietta Tree. Three problems remain: [Page 441]
- a.
- A man to handle disarmament; further consultation with Mr. Foster and Ambassador Dean will be necessary.
- b.
- Appointment of a Negro member of the Delegation, staying as far as possible within the concept of a “fully professional” Delegation.
- c.
- Senator Fulbright is considering whether Senators Gore and Carlson could be the two Senators this year; he is also considering whether they should be billed as Congressional advisers or as members of the Delegation as such.
Governor Stevenson will write to George Meany and Walter Reuther to ask whether they can serve as Senior Advisers. He will discuss with Mrs. Roosevelt whether she would like to be a Senior Adviser this year. Other people who would be shown in the Senior Adviser category would be Mrs. Gladys Tillott and Mrs. Jane Dick. The rotation among the three women commissioners appears to be satisfactory to the White House.
2. National Security Council.
The President has asked Governor Stevenson to plan to make a one-hour presentation to the National Security Council some time on the UN considerations in national security policy. Governor Stevenson has asked us to develop an outline of such a presentation.
3. West New Guinea.
Governor Stevenson talked to U Thant, who had been in touch with the Indonesians but has not been asked by the Indonesians to confirm the Dutch acceptance of satisfactory ground rules for the resumption of negotiations. (A cable is going out to Djakarta to get the Indonesians to ask U Thant if they need more assurance than the United States has already given them.) U Thant is clear that there should be a brief further period of discussion between the Netherlands and Indonesia under Ambassador Bunker’s auspices. Once an agenda is agreed on, U Thant will designate somebody to sit in on the last stage on behalf of the UN Secretariat.
4. Relationships with France.
Governor Stevenson had a most interesting farewell discussion with Berard, who is being assigned as French Ambassador to Rome. The memorandum of conversation is being sent to you separately.2 I told Governor Stevenson what I knew of your first discussion with Ambassador Alphand. Governor Stevenson thought it might be useful to discuss relations with France directly with President De Gaulle; an [Page 442] opportunity for this might be the invitation to visit De Gaulle which he believes may be forthcoming when he (Governor Stevenson) is in Europe this summer for the ECOSOC meeting.
5. Kashmir and Ruanda-Urundi.
Governor Stevenson had a very brief opportunity to bring the President up-to-date on the status of the Kashmir question in the Security Council, and the prospects for Ruanda-Urundi in the General Assembly.
6. Southern Rhodesia.
There is an urgent need to decide how far we will be going to oppose inscription of a Southern Rhodesia item on the agenda of the resumed General Assembly. The matter will probably come up at the General Committee on Friday morning, June 8th. The Department will await USUN’s assessment of the voting situation, before trying to decide whether to campaign against inscription by making representations at government level to key members of the General Committee. On this subject, the President particularly asked whether we were planning to support the British, and Governor Stevenson said we were. If we decide not to oppose inscription, on the ground that we would lose on it, and thereby lose influence in the subsequent resolution, we may want to inform the President of the revised thinking on this subject.
7. President’s Visit to Mexico.
Governor Stevenson is developing a memorandum for the President in connection with his visit to Mexico. We have made available to Governor Stevenson a copy of the present draft of the “scope paper”, and will receive his draft for the President in due course.
8. UN Bond Hearings.
Governor Stevenson expressed to the President his concern, and ours, about the delay in the consideration by the House Foreign Affairs Committee of the UN loan legislation. Fred Dutton will follow up with Larry O’Brien to see whether more steam can be generated for earlier House consideration of the matter. The danger is that if the loan legislation is not passed reasonably soon, some of the opponents or lukewarm supporters will begin to suggest that the whole question be reconsidered in the upcoming General Assembly rather than acted on by the Congress at this time.
9. UN Future Financing.
We discussed with Governor Stevenson the varying proposals for the financing of the peace and security operations of the UN. It does not appear that, with as many unknowns as are still in the picture, we can now [Page 443] settle on a definitive answer to the question, “after the bond issue what?” However, we will need a line of policy and conversation for use in the Congressional hearings and consultations with other governments; this can be framed in terms of alternatives. A paper along these lines will be developed in IO after taking into account New York’s 3897 of June 4.
10. Secretariat Personnel.
USUN has developed a memorandum on the Soviet attempt to enlarge its representation in the Secretariat, a copy of which will be sent to you separately. We are actively discussing this question here, as it appears to be the next major Soviet attack on the UN executive establishment after the failure of the Troika proposal. A draft letter answering questions from Senator Eastland on this subject was checked out with Governor Stevenson, and discussed by him with some of the White House staff. We are all agreed that there is no reason to be protective of the UN in this matter; the best way to protect the international civil service concept is to campaign publicly for it now and during the General Assembly. Frank discussion of the matter with interested members of Congress would fit in with this strategy.
11. Israel.
A considerable part of Governor Stevenson’s session with the President was devoted to a discussion of policy towards Israel, on the basis of a draft letter to Prime Minister Ben Gurion, which had been drafted by Mike Feldman. Governor Stevenson is not clear that any letter is required. If there is a letter he believes it should:
- a.
- Applaud Ambassador Harmon’s declaration to Governor Stevenson that Israel now intended to stop using the retaliatory raid as an instrument of policy;
- b.
- Express the hope that Israel will cooperate closely with the UN peacekeeping machinery in the area; and
- c.
- Look forward to completion of the project for diverting Jordan waters and express the U.S. understanding that Israel will act within the limitations of the Johnston Plan.
12. Next Steps with the UN on Peacekeeping.
We discussed how best to develop the UN’s peacekeeping capability, on the basis of the line of policy set forth in the planning paper, agreed with the Department of Defense and ACDA, entitled “The Development of the Military and Policing Capabilities of the UN”. We emphasized that no legislative action by the UN was contemplated at this stage, but a number of useful steps could be taken by informal action within the UN Secretariat. While U Thant is unlikely to move vigorously on this front prior to his own election to a full five-year term as Secretary General, [Page 444] Governor Stevenson thought it would be useful to have a session with U Thant and some of his chief advisers, for which he would want me to come to New York and at which we could indicate the kinds of steps that might reasonably be taken to plan for a more proficient discharge of the peacekeeping assignments laid on the UN Secretariat from time to time by the Security Council or the General Assembly.