UNITED STATES DELEGATION TO THE SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
November 12, 1952 The Waldorf New York, N. Y. (Typed November 13, 1952)
MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION
SUBJECT: Korea; Trygve Lie
PARTICIPANTS: Mr. Eden, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Mr. Shuckburgh, Private Secretary to Mr. Eden The Secretary of State Mr. Perkins Mr. Jessup Mr. Byington
Before beginning a discussion of non-UN subjects, Mr. Eden brought up the following:
Korea. Mr. Eden described his conversation with Menon concerning the latest revisions we had suggested in the draft of the Korean resolution. He said he had done his utmost to urge upon Menon the importance of accepting this as the best possible compromise in order to win Western support. Menon appeared to stand on his original draft and Mr. Eden was not hopeful that the Indians would come around. Every time he tried to get Menon to talk about the proposed suggestions, Menon kept slipping off on to another subject. At first he just barely glanced at the draft and when urged to do so later, he again only read it hastily but reverted to his own formula.
The Secretary mentioned his talk with Menon which he described as discouraging and along similar lines to Mr. Eden's experience.
Trygve Lie. When Mr. Eden raised this subject, Mr. Acheson said that he was not in favor of the stress being laid at present by a number of Delegates that a decision had to be reached this week. He had rather liked the line which Mr. Eden has suggested that Mr. Lie might not mean his resignation to be final and it should be explored whether this was the case before taking precipitant action on trying to reach agreement on a successor. The Secretary did not believe that it was actually the case that Lie might reconsider his resignation but he felt this tactic would be a useful maneuver at this time.
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Mr. Eden expressed agreement with the Secretary's view. He also discussed the probability that the Soviets would seek to trouble the waters with suggestions in favor of candidates who are in no way qualified for the job.
Distribution: Basic List
HMByington, Jr.:bw