Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, General; the United Nations, Volume I, Part 2

International Trade Files: Lot 57D284, Box 104

The Vice Chairman of the United States Delegation (Wilcox) to the Chief of the Division of Commercial Policy (Brown)

[Extract] strictly personal

[Habana,] February 25, 1948.

Dear Win:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

…I then¹ began a series of meetings with all of the British and European countries here in an effort to bring the Conference to a conclusion. Two weeks ago all of these people (except Eric Colban²) were buried in gloom. Wilgress saw no hope at all. Coombs was saying that we should adjourn the Conference and put the whole project on ice for a year or more. I called a meeting and talked to these people like a football coach talks with his team before the last game of the season and then, at a series of subsequent meetings, developed a party line for the solution of all outstanding issues. At this stage, fortunately, Will Clayton joined me for a week, and by working tirelessly day and night we brought the most serious problems to a point where it appeared certain that the Conference was going to succeed. We receded from our impossible position on occupied areas, we got a draft on relations with non-Members which was acceptable to the Czechs and the Scandinavians, we got a solution on non-discrimination which was acceptable to all of the Europeans and to the British Delegation here (if not to their Government in London), and we got the Latins and the other undeveloped countries into an apparent mood of compromise in a series of meetings in which we presented them with a new draft of Article 13. It thus appeared that every serious obstacle to the conclusion of our work was removed.

These last two weeks have involved incessant toil, and have been exhausting in the extreme. We had to work out all these positions, first in the U.S. Delegation, second with the British and European countries, and third, in negotiations with the undeveloped countries. In addition to that, we have had a protracted and annoying struggle with the French on the subject of appeals to the International Court of Justice under Chapter VIII, and a delicate and interminable negotiation with the Arabs, the Czechs, the Indians, and the South Africans over the question of political boycotts. For three months we have kept this one out of the newspapers. If it ever hit the headlines the repercussions might be extremely serious. Holloway is still waiting for word from Smuts, and we may still have troubles here.³

In the week since Clayton left, working continuously with the British and European countries, I have brought all of the remaining issues with the undeveloped countries together into a single package. The contents of the package are (1) our new draft of Article 13, (2) our final position on Article 15, (3) three alternative approaches to the problems presented by the Tariff Committee and the Economic Development Committee, (4) the final settlement of the question of the Executive Board, and (5) removal of outstanding amendments and reservations relating to all of these points. At a meeting of the Coordinating Committee (nine undeveloped countries, three devastated countries, and Wilcox) yesterday morning I presented and explained all of these documents and indicated quite clearly that they represented our final position and had to be taken in their entirety. The Committee meets again this afternoon to get the reaction of the undeveloped countries. It is our belief that we have satisfied China, India, the Arab countries, and the Central Americans, and that we can get a majority any time we force the question to a vote. We should be very much surprised if the other Latinos would turn us down flatly. It is perhaps too much to hope that they will accept the package as is. What is more probable is an effort to go on chiseling away at point after point, and we all feel certain that now, after three months of persuasion and compromise, the time has come when we must say No and continue to say No. At the earliest possible moment I hope to carry our package to a meeting of all Heads of Delegations and force a final showdown.

When Mr. Clayton left at the end of last week I had some hope that we should be able to complete Committee work by the end of February and get out of Havana by the end of the first week in March. Two days ago, however, the Secretariat put out a paper which established two weeks as the time required between the completion of Committee work and the signature of the Final Act. This made March 14 the target date for the conclusion of the Conference. Now everybody is convinced that the Committee work will not be completed by the end of this month and the prospect, therefore, is that this business may drag on to the 20th or the 25th.

[Here follows material related to personnel on the delegation and to Wilcox’s proposed activities, after returning to the United States.]

1. Reference here is to Wilcox’s return to the Conference after a weekend respite.
2. Erik Colban, Head of the Norwegian Delegation.
3. Dr. John E. Holloway, Permanent Secretary of the Treasury, Union of South Africa and Head of the South Africa Delegation to Habana, and Jan Christiaan Smuts, Prime Minister of South Africa.