UNA Files
Memorandum by the Acting Secretary of State (Stettinius)1
Matters To Discuss With the President
World Security Organization
1. The Next Step
2. Open Items
a. Voting in Security Council
1. We recommend acceptance of formula giving each member one vote; procedural matters decided by affirmative vote of 7 members; [Page 49] on other matters by vote of 7, including concurring votes of permanent members except that a party to a dispute should not vote in decisions involving pacific settlement.
b. Initial Membership
1. Try to get “Associated Nations” in Latin America to join United Nations—This means declarations of war.
2. Failing that, stick to our guns that Associated Nations be invited.
3. In any event, oppose X.2
c. Location
1. We recommend for headquarters an internationalized district comprising a strip of Swiss territory on which League and ILO buildings are located and the adjacent French territory of the Pays de Gex.
d. International Trusteeships
1. We be authorized to study further with military and naval authorities and if you approve, to exchange proposals with U. K., U. S. S. R., and China prior to the general conference.
e. Drafting of Court Statute
1. We tentatively agreed at Dumbarton Oaks to have experts meet several weeks prior to general conference to draft statute.
f. Termination of League
1. British and Chinese studying. They have promised to give us their conclusions.
3. Congressional Groups—May I have discussions with them[?]—Especially on voting procedure.
- Printed from an unsigned copy typed in the Department of State; authorship not indicated. The copy bears the typed heading, “The Under Secretary of State”.↩
- “X” refers to the Soviet demand at Dumbarton Oaks that the sixteen Soviet Socialist Republics be included in the initial membership of the proposed international organization.↩