Office of the Historian

417. Memorandum of Conversation0

Washington, October 4, 1963, 10:30 a.m.

SUBJECT

  • South Africa

participants

  • United States
    • The President
    • William R. Tyler, Assistant Secretary European Affairs
    • Thomas M. Judd, EUR/BNA
  • UK
    • Lord Home, Foreign Secretary
    • Sir David Ormsby Gore, Ambassador to the U.S.
    • Oliver Wright, Foreign Office

Lord Home said that an idea was being put forward at the UN for “strategic sanctions” against South Africa. The UK was opposed to the application of sanctions except when there was a threat to peace. The trouble with Security Council resolutions was that they were mandatory. The UK would accordingly have to veto any “strategic sanctions” resolution as it was unlikely that enough abstentions could be obtained. Ambassador Stevenson had indicated, Lord Home said, that the U.S. might go along with some selective sanctions.

[Page 652]

The President replied that we had gone along on the arms embargo. We would not go beyond that and would not support sanctions. The question was how best to stop them. He thought that the British should not be too disturbed at the idea of casting a veto.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL-1 S AFR. Confidential. Drafted by Judd and approved by the White House on October 15. The conversation took place at the White House. The source text is labeled “4 of 6 parts.”↩