Lot 60–D 224, Box 59: Stettinius Diary
Extracts From the Personal Diary of the Under Secretary of State (Stettinius)
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Meeting with Mr. Hull
As soon as the Joint Steering Committee ended, I immediately went to Mr. Hull’s office to report to him the serious development of the morning. He immediately grasped the great significance of it and took it very well. He thinks we should take our American group into our confidence on the question and direct our efforts toward trying to save the document by some formula which would result in this question being referred to the general conference where the pressure on the Soviets might be so great that they would have to change their position. He suggested a recess for the Chinese discussions but I explained that the Soviets were also adamant on that. He suggested that we try to handle the question by stating very general principles only.
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[Page 805]Talk with Ambassador Gromyko
I called Gromyko on the phone about 4:30 and suggested to him that the Formulations Group get together immediately to try to find some solution to the voting question problem. He agreed to send Sobolev to such a meeting.
The Formulations Group convened promptly and continued in session for several hours. They worked out an informal compromise solution76 which would allow a great power a veto in case of enforcement action but not in the pacific settlement of disputes. The representatives of all three countries in the Formulations Group seemed to feel that this formula was satisfactory.
Miscellany
During the day I addressed a memorandum to the Secretary77 asking for definite instructions with regard to the provision with respect to a qualification for non-permanent members for the Council, which the British are fighting for so strongly. The provision is “due regard being paid to the contribution of members of the organization toward the maintenance of international peace and security and toward the other purposes of the organization”.
It was interesting to receive a cable from Harriman78 saying that the British colleague in Moscow had not received instructions to see Molotov relative to attempting to persuade him to have the Soviets reverse their position on voting. Cadogan had told me several times that such instructions would be sent to Clark Kerr. Apparently the Foreign Office in London has not acted on his recommendation.