305. Letter From the Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (Cleveland) to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights (Marshall)1
Dear Burke:
As you know, the Secretary of State has invited you to a meeting in his office at 3:00 on Monday, November 18th, to discuss a proposal for a permanent Human Rights Rapporteur in the United Nations system.
The essence of the issue is whether we ought to take this step during this General Assembly (that is, in early December), to carry out the indication in the President’s UN speech that the United States Delegation would have proposals to make in this area.
The Secretary is particularly anxious to consider the relationship between the substance and timing of this proposal and the Federal Government’s domestic civil rights program, including the legislation now pending on the Hill.
Perhaps the best preparation for this meeting would be our internal documentation on the matter, which includes our original proposal as agreed with Governor Stevenson and embodied in a draft Memorandum to the President, a supplementary memorandum by Abe Chayes expressing some doubts, and a brief rebuttal thereto.
With warmest regards,
Sincerely,
- Source: Kennedy Library, Cleveland Papers, Human Rights, Box 19. Limited Official Use. An attached note reads: “Re 3:00 meeting today in Secretary’s office: Secretary and Attorney General have been in touch on the telephone and Secretary has decided not to press ahead with the rapporteur proposal for the time being in view of the judgement that it would make considerable difficulties on the domestic civil rights front and that those considerations must be considered as overriding at this time. Since the question at issue has been settled for this season, the Secretary has called off the meeting he was to have in his office at 3:00 today. Attorney General; Burke Marshall; Sorensen; Chayes and HC.”↩
- Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩