Office of the Historian

740.00119 Control (Japan)/9–547

The Acting Political Adviser in Japan (Sebald)59 to the Secretary of State

restricted
No. 1262
Tokyo, September 5, 1947.

Sir: I have the honor to refer to my despatch 1243, August 23, 194760 and to previous correspondence in regard to meetings of the Allied Council for Japan, and to forward as enclosures60 five copies each of the Agenda and Corrected Verbatim Minutes of the Fortieth Meeting of the Council held on September 3, 1947.

Although there were no procedural or official matters on the Agenda, the Soviet Member61 had, in a letter dated August 13, 1947 (page 4 of the Minutes), objected to the Acting Secretary-General’s62 announcement by a memorandum of August 8, 1947 (page 3 of the Minutes) concerning changes to be made in the form of the Agenda. In his letter, the Soviet Member charged the Chairman63 with unilateral action in directing a change in procedure which “entered into the competency of the entire Allied Council”. From the Minutes of previous meetings, it will be noted that one of the items removed from the agenda form (No. V, “Scope of Information Desired”) has consistently been used by the Soviet Member to obtain detailed information on a variety of subjects and in turn to use the information so obtained to discredit the motives and actions of the Supreme Commander and his Headquarters, and to direct criticism at Occupation policy in general.

In his opening statement the Acting Soviet Member reiterated the charges made in his letter of August 13, 1947, and maintained that the rules of procedure, having been agreed upon by all Members of the Council, were binding in this case and could be revised or altered only in similar fashion. He further charged that the Chairman’s direction to the Acting Secretary-General amounted to unilateral action, is incorrect, and basically contradicts the aims of the Council. He stated that this action is “an obvious attempt to disrupt and complicate the normal functioning of the Allied Council and practically to reduce it to nothing”, and desired discussion of this question “in order to take necessary measures to eliminate the present abnormal situation”.

[Page 288]

As Chairman, in an extemporaneous statement, I replied that the form of the Agenda is not governed by any procedural rule and that a search of the Minutes of earlier meetings had failed to reveal any previous discussion or specific agreement upon such form; that the form of the Agenda had originally been prepared by the Secretary-General; that this whole question “is a minutia which had best be left to the Secretary in the normal exercise of his functions”; and that there is no point in using a form which has become obsolete and which has endeavored to commit the Supreme Commander or his General Headquarters to the rules of procedure of the Council.

As it is clear from earlier meetings that the Council has strayed far from the original concept as set forth in the terms of reference of the Council, a circumstance primarily attributable to the tactics employed by the Soviet Member, I took occasion to state that

“I know of no occasion when the Soviet Member has ever given helpful or constructive advice. On the contrary he has used this Council to further his ends of obstructionism. He has used this Council to support an ideology which is not wanted in Japan and … by indirection, to criticize the Supreme Commander.” (Page 6 et seq. of the Minutes).

The newly-arrived British Commonwealth Member, Mr. Patrick Shaw, commented that the question at issue appears one of availability of information to Members of the Council and stated that as assurance has been given that Members are not precluded from making reasonable inquiries of General Headquarters, such assurance seems to cover the only matter at issue.

The Chinese Member64 stated that he was agreeable to “leaving the job to the Secretary-General” but later remarked that the result should be subject to the approval of the Members.

Respectfully yours,

W. J. Sebald

Counselor of Mission
  1. W. J. Sebald, Chief of the Diplomatic Section, GHQ, SCAP, and Acting Political Adviser after the death of George Atcheson, whose plane crashed at sea en route to Hawaii from Japan. For statement by the Acting Secretary of State on Mr. Atcheson’s death, see Department of State Bulletin, August 31, 1947, p. 437.↩
  2. Not printed.↩
  3. Not printed.↩
  4. Maj. Gen. A. P. Kislenko, representing the Soviet Union’s member.↩
  5. Col. John W. Hammond.↩
  6. George Atcheson was chairman at that time.↩
  7. Gen. Shang Chen↩