196. Telegram From the Department of State to the Delegation at the United Nations1
Tosec 49. US initiative re Soviet actions in GA. We understand that decision taken by Secretary that US should submit basket item at appropriate time prior UNGA debate Soviet agenda item re “U.S. aggressive acts”, etc.
Following is suggested explanatory memorandum which US would submit. You will note that memorandum has been updated from previous draft considered by Secretary2 since it now includes general reference to Soviet attack on UN. From tactical point of view, we see advantage in having this item considered in same committee (Political Committee) which will consider Soviet propaganda item.
As to timing submission of this item, we believe there is merit to waiting at least until General Debate is well advanced giving opportunity for opinion in Assembly to crystalize on dominant issue involving Soviet broadside against UN. There is also added consideration that it would be well for US to come forward first with positive constructive African item as follow-up to President’s speech rather than item essentially of a propaganda character.
[Page 367]“On behalf of the Government of the United States of America, I request inclusion in the agenda of the 15th regular session of the United Nations General Assembly as an urgent and important item the question of ‘Threats and Actions by the Soviet Union which Increase International Tension and Friction’. In accordance with rule 20 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, I attach an explanatory memorandum.
The Government of the United States desires to draw to the attention of the General Assembly a series of actions by the Government of the Soviet Union which it believes must be regarded as major causes of heightened international tensions, which seriously impair good relations between states, and thereby increases the danger of war. Soviet threats to peace have occurred over a long period of years and the Government of the United States has repeatedly called attention to these threats. During the past six months, however, a new series of Soviet actions have taken place which have substantially increased the magnitude of the threat posed by the Government of the USSR to world harmony. These actions, which include interference in the affairs of other nations, fomenting of civil strife, failure to comply with UN resolutions, and threats to unleash a nuclear war, show a contempt for both international law and the purposes of the United Nations, which in the view of this Government is both deplorable and dangerous. The USSR continuously pursues a course of action which demonstrates that the legitimate desire of the world for a stable and ordered peace is subordinated to Soviet communist aggressive and expansionist designs.
Since last May alone the Soviet Union has taken the following dangerous actions:
In May, 1960 the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR wrecked the proposed Meeting of Heads of State and Government at Paris, upon which most of the people of the world had placed their hopes for a settlement of important international differences and a general relaxation of tensions.
In June of this year, the members of the Soviet bloc sitting on the 10-nation disarmament committee at Geneva, abruptly left that committee and refused even to hear new disarmament proposals which they had been informed were forthcoming. This unilateral breakoff of disarmament negotiations, which had been sanctioned by the 14th General Assembly, was directly contrary to the Security Council resolution of May 27, 1960,3 and demonstrates a reprehensible disregard of recognized parliamentary rules of procedure.
[Page 368]Soon after these events the Soviet Union shot down a United States Air Force RB–47 aircraft flying over international waters in the Barents Sea in violation of international law. The Soviet Union is thus responsible for the murder of at least one American, for the disappearance of two others and for the unlawful incommunicado detention of two more. In the course of Security Council action on this matter, the Soviet Government vetoed a Security Council resolution, supported by all non-communist members, calling for an impartial investigation of the incident, and access to the survivors by the International Red Cross.4
The Soviet Union has sought to undermine and obstruct the United Nations effort to bring about law and order in the Congo. It has given aircraft, supplies, and personnel outside the framework of the United Nations to support a civil war in which Africans killed Africans. The USSR has made a thinly disguised attempt to achieve political penetration and to heighten tensions and disorders in that already unhappily tense country contrary to the interests of the people of the Congo and Africa. It seeks to impose Soviet imperialism and colonialism on the African people on whose behalf it poses as a champion. The General Assembly in special emergency session has repudiated this unilateral effort and has clearly endorsed the continuing United Nations collective effort to bring about stability and order in the Congo.
The Soviet Union, through its puppet the ‘so-called’ GDR, is imposing restrictions and harassments on the population of West Berlin. This action, in direct defiance of international agreements, is also an effort to increase tensions and promote the aggressive aims of the Soviet Union in Europe.
The USSR is endeavoring to extend its intervention in the affairs of the American Republics, using the political, economic, and social situation of an American state to this end. The American Foreign Ministers condemned and rejected this type of intervention at San Jose, Costa Rica, on August 28, 1960.5
Accompanying all of these efforts to increase tension has been the frequent threats to launch rockets against those who do not supinely accept the desires and ambitions of the Soviet Union, uttered by the [Page 369] most authoritative leaders of the Soviet Union. These threats are clearly contrary to the basic precepts of the United Nations Charter which call upon all states to refrain from threats or the use of force.
The Soviet actions must be viewed against the background of the Soviet Union’s long history of actions in the UN itself. It abetted and condoned direct defiance of the United Nations in the cases of both Hungary and Korea. It has consistently refused to contribute to the vital effort to maintain peace in the Middle East by refusing to pay its assessed share of the financing of UNEF. It has continued to ignore the UN resolution designed to promote the reunification of Germany through free elections. During the past fifteen years, the Soviet Government has defied more recommendations and decisions of the United Nations than any other member of the United Nations, and all of this has been done under the guise of ‘peaceful co-existence.’ And today the Soviet Union has declared war on the entire United Nations. It seeks to control the United Nations, and if this does prove possible, it seeks to destroy it. This poses an unparalleled challenge to the world organization—a challenge that must be met directly and firmly. There can be no compromise on this issue.
The Soviet actions must also be viewed against the background of a militarily powerful state which maintains a wall of secrecy around its borders and threatens indiscriminately to use the most horrible weapons ever known to man. When such a nation closes its doors to a free exchange of ideas and information the result is to heighten fears throughout the world. An attitude of this kind is indefensible in the nuclear age when mankind has a legitimate right to feel itself secure from the threat of death by massive surprise attack. Moreover, these artificial barriers to contact and communication breed widespread suspicion and mistrust among nations and present obstacles to all types of constructive cooperation. To a very large extent, the world’s search for effective disarmament arrangements, for the relaxation of tensions and for the evolution of peaceful and neighborly relations among states will depend upon the elimination of these barriers and the development of more open societies, particularly in the areas controlled by the Soviet Government.
The Government of the United States believes that the General Assembly should consider the serious situation resulting from these actions of the Soviet Union.”
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 320/9–2760. Confidential; Priority. Drafted by Sisco, Buffum, and Nunley; cleared by Wallner, Stoessel, Kohler, Coote (Congo paragraph only), and ARA (Cuban paragraph only); and approved by the Acting Secretary. Repeated to Moscow.↩
- Not found.↩
- For text, see U.N. doc. S/INF/15.↩
- Reference is presumably to a U.S. draft resolution calling for an investigation of the RB–47 incident and an Italian draft resolution proposing International Red Cross access to the survivors. The U.N. Security Council voted in favor of both resolutions on July 29; the Soviet Union, however, vetoed them. For texts, see U.N. docs. S/4409 and S.4411, respectively. For a record of the debate and the votes on the resolutions, see U.N. docs. S/PV.883 and S/PV.883/Add.l.↩
- For text, see OAS doc. OEA/Ser.F/11.7.↩