795.00/6–2850
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Deputy United States Representative on the United Nations Security Council (Ross)
Subject: Korea
| Participants: | Mr. John Hickerson—Assistant Secretary of State |
| Mr. John C. Ross—USUN |
Mr. Hickerson telephoned me at about six o’clock. He said that he had just come from a meeting of all the geographic Assistant Secretaries at which Lie’s proposal to ask all United Nations Members to indicate what assistance they were prepared to offer pursuant to the Security Council resolution of 27 June had been discussed.2
It was agreed in the Department’s meeting that it was a good idea to use the United Nations umbrella as much as possible. It was felt however that Lie should function as no more than a post office. This was Lie’s idea and if he were disposed to circularize United Nations Members as indicated, it was OK with the Department.
On the other hand, Department considered that the form of Lie’s communication to Member Governments was very important. It was the Department’s view that it was not likely that many Members would be able to contribute very much. Therefore, the Department felt that Lie’s communication should be drafted so as to permit Members not in a position to contribute assistance to refrain from replying to Lie’s communication without embarrassment. The Department had in mind that Lie’s communication might call attention to the Security [Page 222] Council resolution of 27 June which had already been transmitted to them and indicate that Lie would be glad to have them transmit to him any specific offers of assistance they might be in a position to make “for communication by him to the Korean Government”.
It was felt that it was not practicable for the United Nations to get into the actual use and control of assistance.
The Department felt that it was unthinkable to use the Military Staff Committee in any way and the Department wanted this stated very clearly to Lie and Cordier.3
The Department also did not want any formal or informal action designating the United States as the agent of the United Nations or MacArthur as Commander of United Nations forces.
As a practical matter Hickerson said we would be very much interested of course in obtaining informally information submitted to Lie. As a practical matter also, the Department envisaged that offers of assistance made, for example, by the United Kingdom or Canada would be transmitted to Lie, by him to the Korean Government, and in turn the Governments offering assistance would work out the details directly with us. In effect we would be the operating agent and MacArthur the Commander.
As reported by telegram to the Department (Our 555, June 28)4 the foregoing was communicated to Cordier, Chauvel and Jebb5 by Ambassador Gross.
- The source text is a copy of a document in the IO Files, Department of State, bearing the designation US/S/1256 and the date June 29, 1950.↩
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Reference is to a proposed message from the Secretary-General to the U.N. member states. The actual message was not sent until June 29, and the text read as follows:
“I have the honour to call the attention of your government to the resolution adopted by the Security Council at its 474th meeting on 27 June 1950 which recommends that the Members of the United Nations furnish such assistance to the Republic of Korea as may be necessary to repel the armed attack and to restore international peace and security in the area. In the event that your government is in a position to provide assistance it would facilitate the implementation of the resolution if you were to be so good as to provide me with an early reply as to type of assistance. I shall transmit the reply to the Security Council and to the Government of the Republic of Korea,” (United States Policy in the Korean Crisis, p. 28)
↩ - Andrew W. Cordier, Executive Assistant to the Secretary-General.↩
- Received at 8:26 p. m., p. 225.↩
- Sir Gladwyn Jebb had become Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom at the United Nations on June 27.↩