IO Files
Minutes of Forty-third Meeting of the United States Delegation to the General Assembly, Paris, January 10, 1952
US/A/M(Chr)/230
[Here follow list of persons (50) present and discussion of a prior agenda item.]
2. South West Africa. Mr. McKay referred to an item in the Classified Summary, Delga 946,1 page 1, in regard to the formal request the Rev. Michael Scott was making to speak again to the Fourth Committee on the question of South West Africa. Rev. Scott planned to indicate that the reason the Herero chiefs had been unable to come to Paris and present their views was that the South African Government had not given them the necessary travel documents. Sir Alan Burns of the United Kingdom had reported that Khalidy of Iraq offered to intervene with the Arabs to restrain them from expressing strong views or asking leading questions of Rev. Scott if in turn the Latin Americans could be persuaded to show similar restraint.
The chances of having Dr. Tobias seek to dissuade Scott from making his presentation to the Committee had been discussed. Scott had already presented a formal written request, however, and he felt a moral obligation to speak on behalf of the Hereros. It was therefore unlikely that he could be dissuaded. In view of the overwhelming support for allowing him to speak, it was felt best not to oppose his speaking per se but rather to have him, if possible, present his remarks in a restrained vein. Mr. McKay noted the urgent need to begin approaches [Page 726] on this subject, since the Committee had scheduled four meetings for a two-day period and could conceivably reach the South West Africa item by the next day.
Ambassador Gross asked what might result if we did not seek to restrain Rev. Scott. Mr. Ward Allen recalled that the United States was undertaking strenuous efforts in conjunction with other delegations to prevent the South Africans from “blowing the lid off” in Plenary on their suggested tactic of having the Plenary declare the Committee Four invitation to the Hereros illegal. The relationship of these two problems satisfied Ambassador Gross of the need to follow the suggested course.
Mr. Sandifer added that it would be unwise to have the Committee end on a crescendo of confusion. He thought our approaches should be made to more delegations than just the Latins. In addition it should not be made in terms of “coercing” them, but rather explaining to them our view of the matter.
Mrs. Roosevelt noted that she had for the first time in her conversation with the South Africans the day before received the impression that they were admitting that they were trying to do something which would ease the situation, and that the solution to their problems would take some time to accomplish. She asked Ambassador Sayre whether her impression was unique or whether he had ever seen similar intimations. He answered that he had occasionally seen such signs, but warned that Malan was the one with whom we would have to reckon, and that he was completely rigid. Dr. Tobias said that any loosening in Jooste’s attitude was due to a stiffening in the US position. They still wanted the United States, however, to do what was incompatible with our tradition and belief. He added a note of caution indicative of the scope of the problem with which we had to deal—that the Dutch Reform Church in South Africa was a warm supporter of Malan’s policies.
Mr. Ward Allen noted that there was a possibility that Rev. Scott’s views might be sent to the UN by letter rather than being presented orally. He had followed that practice once before in answering questions put to him by the Committee. Mrs. Roosevelt wondered whether his absence in England might be due to illness, and whether that fact might not be an appropriate reason for asking his views by letter. Mr. McKay thought an approach might be made by Dr. Tobias along those lines, but he doubted the success of such an approach. Dr. Tobias indicated he would feel able to make a personal appeal to Scott stressing the need for caution by him in his presentation.
[Here follows discussion of other agenda items.]
- Daily Classified Summary No. 50, January 10, 1952, 1 a. m., not printed.↩