501.BB Palestine/3–2548: Telegram
The United States Representative at the United Nations (Austin) to the Secretary of State
urgent
332. Am I authorized to reply to specific question:
“Would the US contribute armed forces to UN for maintenance of law and order in Palestine to maintain truce and trusteeship?”
What reply shall I make?1
- Attached to an
information copy of telegram 332 is a memorandum of March 29 sent by
Gladys E. Schukraft, in the Under Secretary’s Office, to Mr. Lovett
which reads as follows: “Mr. Rusk asked me to give you the
following: ↩
“Question: Would the United States contribute armed forces to the United Nations for the maintenance of law and order in Palestine to maintain a truce and trusteeship?
“Proposed answer: Yes, if troops become necessary, along with other United Nations members.”
Mr. Lovett, in a marginal notation, stated: “No—White House does not approve; language should conform to President’s press statement of March 25th.”
The editors have been unable to find a direct reply to telegram 332 in the Department of State files. Possibly Ambassador Austin was informed of Mr. Lovett’s views by telephone.
The Clifford Papers contain an undated memorandum prepared presumably by Mr. Clifford for the President, which reads as follows: “State Department asked you late yesterday what Ambassador Austin should say today (Tuesday) if asked this question.
“I suggest this answer:
“In the first place, it has often been contemplated that UN forces should, whenever practicable, be made up of troops of the smaller nations which have no immediate partisan interest in the area to be policed, and should not be made up of units of larger nations with any special interest in the area. In the alternative, there can be an international volunteer force.…
“In the second place, it should he borne in mind that trusteeship is simply a method, a way station, a means to an end—and not the end, not the goal, not the final result. The purpose of the suggestion of trusteeship is to obtain a peaceful implementation of the UN decision for partition. It may be that others in the UN will want to suggest some other and even better way of securing what the American Government has in mind—the preservation of the peace in aid of partition. Once the method which is best for this purpose is decided upon, the picture will become clearer for the decision of the kind and composition of any troops that may be useful to carry out that method.”