Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1934, General, the British Commonwealth, Volume I

500.A15A4/2584: Telegram

The American Delegate (Wilson) to the Secretary of State

Geneva, September 27, 1934—noon.
[Received September 27—9:15 a.m.]

935. Yesterday afternoon Litvinoff sent a letter to Sandler, President of the Assembly, proposing a resolution reading as follows:⁷¹

“The Fifteenth Assembly of the League of Nations expresses the hope that the President of the Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments will report to the League Council on the position of the work of that Conference and that the Council will express its views as to the procedure to be followed.”

In the Assembly this morning Sandler explained that inasmuch as the Council was always free to take whatever action it deemed desirable upon subjects within its competence and as under the present circumstances the Bureau of the Assembly deemed it unadvisable to initiate discussion on disarmament he would recommend only that the Assembly take note of the Soviet letter. While reserving the right to bring the question up again in the Council Litvinoff did not press for a vote on his resolution confining himself to brief explanation of its aim which was to show to the public that the Assembly had not forgotten the question of disarmament and to underline the importance of the Council’s taking some cognizance of the progress of the work. When the subject was brought up to the Council he proposed to renew his proposal for a permanent peace conference⁷² which would permit of the cooperation of the United States in general discussion of peace problems.

Litvinoff took me aside at a reception last night and told me about the letter and the statement which he proposed to make. He said that certain people had reproached him since he wrote his letter for trying to bring the subject of disarmament up in the League organization where the United States was not represented. He explained that his idea of turning the Conference into a permanent peace organization was with the hope in mind that in dealing with peace problems the United States would be able to be present and that his primary preoccupation was to build a machine in which the great non-member states could be represented.

Wilson

71. For translation of letter containing Soviet resolution, see League of Nations, Official Journal, Special Supplement No. 125: Records of the Fifteenth Ordinary Session of the Assembly, Plenary Meetings, p. 76.
72. For outline of Soviet project for a permanent disarmament organization, see enclosure to memorandum by the Secretary of State, December 19, p. 206.