of the Organization has one of the sessions been attended by so many international figures or commanded such wide public attention.

In this great Assembly, with nearly one hundred nations represented, there are bound to be different views. Some of the speeches that have been delivered have been partisan and even violent. I will try not to follow this example, for I feel that it would be out of harmony with the real mood either of the representatives as a whole or of the people outside.

Indeed, the sponge of public opinion is almost saturated with the persistent flood of propaganda. It can pick up no more. Ordinary people, all over the world, in their present mood, are beginning to tire of the same conventional slogans and catchwords.

The Prime Minister of Canada, in an arresting speech on Monday," pointed out the choice before us. Are we to indulge in a sterile debate of charge and countercharge, accusation and rebuttal; or are we to seek, by reasoned argument, practical solutions to the many problems with which we are confronted today?

These problems will not be solved in the context of ideological warfare. What we have to judge, in looking at the merits of any particular proposal, is its practicability and the contribution that it will make to a settlement of the pressing difficulties of these critical times.

That was the great value of the remarkable speech which President Eisenhower delivered here last Thursday.3

35

A period of crisis is always a period of opportunity. If this session of the Assembly is dramatic, it may well be historic. It may mark the beginning of a period of steady deterioration, ending, as far as human intelligence can foresee, in tragedy. Or it may be the beginning of better things.

We all feel in our hearts that as the world grows smaller it must, if it is to survive, become more united. But as each crisis underlines the difficulty of maintaining side by side the two principles of peace and justice, there are periods when all of us must have doubts. Nevertheless, whatever its difficulties and perhaps shortcomings, the United Nations is the best-indeed the only-organization which we have available. Its influence is continually growing. Like all organizations, it can no doubt be improved. The President of the United States made certain suggestions for this purpose, which I greatly welcome. Their object was to increase, not reduce, the power of the Organization to deal with crises as they may arise.

The proposal made by the Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, if I may say so, seems calculated to have the opposite effect, for it would extend the veto, with all its embarrassments, into the realm of the Secretariat." It would freeze into the permanent structure of the Secretariat what we must all hope may be only the temporary divisions among us. I therefore believe that it will be unacceptable to the majority of Members.

As for the Secretary-General, I would like to associate myself with the wide expression of confidence in his energy, resourcefulness and, above all, integrity.

At any given moment in the world's history we tend, all of us, to be obsessed by our own ideologies. We may thus become prisoners of our own arguments. The great division in the world must be seen in a wide, historical perspective, and what a strange contrast it is between the dramatic achievements of modern science and the melancholy failures of modern statesmanship! We throw instruments into distant space, which circle the earth. We put hardly any limit to the ambitions of discovery. I am told we expect soon to visit the moon. Yet if there are inhabitants in any other planets looking down on us, how strange they must think the antics of humanity. With all this immense knowledge, the results of thousands of years of effort, emerging from savagery and superstition to the most sophisticated techniques, how strange it must seem to see human beings fighting and quarrelling, attacking not the real problems which confront

us-economic, social, medical, agricultural-but each other, and even perhaps risking their mutual destruction through the accident of nuclear war.

And yet while their leaders have been quarrelling there has never been a time when ordinary folk, if they were only let alone, were more agreed as to their requirements and aspirations. Materially they want peace, prosperity and advancement; and they want perhaps something more, the chance to think for themselves about the deepest problems on which man has to meditate during his short individual sojourn on earth-the relations between man and man, and the relation between man and God.

It is therefore as trustees for ordinary men and women whom we serve that we. the so-called statesmen of the world, should approach our tasks today. But if we are to free mankind from ignorance, poverty, and fear, we must at least free ourselves from old and worn-out slogans and obsolete battle cries.

I will venture to end with one general observation. It has been my experience that in all human affairs there are dangers in excessive pessimism as well as in too much optimism. It is foolish to deny the existence of the great divisions of the world today. There are those who accept them as inevitable and irreconcilable. I believe that they are wrong.

Equally, there are those who think they can be removed by mere words. This. alas, is a delusion. I am sure that a less dramatic but more practical way is this. The only way forward is by gradual approach, working step by step in practical ways to improve the position. We need to work patiently and sincerely, and all the time we need to remember that the hopes of millions of people are fixed upon us in this Assembly, and for their sake we must not fail.

UNITED STATES-UNITED KINGDOM-AUSTRALIAN CONSULTATION ON THE WORK PROGRAM OF THE FIFTEENTH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Joint Statement Issued at Washington by the President of the United States (Eisenhower), the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Macmillan), and the Prime Minister of Australia (Menzies), October 2, 1960 37

UNITED STATES CONTINUED OPPOSITION TO THE REPRESENTATION OF COMMUNIST CHINA IN THE UNITED NATIONS: Statement Made by the U.S. Representative (Wadsworth) Before the U.N. General Assembly, October 8, 1960 88

21. THE QUESTION OF THE REPRESENTATION OF CHINA: Resolution 1493 (XV), Adopted by the U.N. General Assembly, October 8, 1960 39

The General Assembly

1. Decides to reject the request of the Union of Soviet Socialist Re

37 White House press release dated Oct. 2, 1960; the Department of State Bul letin, Oct. 17, 1960, p. 596.

39 U.S.-U.N. press release 3523; ibid., Oct. 31, 1960, pp. 685-689.

30

U.N. General Assembly Official Records, Fifteenth Session, Supplement No. 16 (A/4684), p. 61. This resolution, sponsored by the representative of the United States, was adopted by a vote of 42 to 34, with 22 abstentions.

40

publics 10 for the inclusion in the agenda of its fifteenth regular session of the item entitled "Representation of China in the United Nations";

2. Decides not to consider, at its fifteenth regular session, any proposals to exclude the representatives of the Government of the Republic of China or to seat representatives of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China.

22. THE QUESTION OF THE REPRESENTATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO (LÉOPOLDVILLE): Resolution 1498 (XV), Adopted by the U.N. General Assembly, November 22, 1960 41

The General Assembly

Accepts the credentials of the representatives of the Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville) issued by the Head of the State and communicated by him to the President of the General Assembly in a letter dated 8 November 1960.42

E. Economic Development and Technical Assistance

23. THE RESPECTIVE MERITS OF REGIONAL AND UNIVERSAL APPROACHES TO ECONOMIC TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Statement Made by the Under Secretary of State (Dillon) at the Ministerial Meeting of the Thirtieth Session of the U.N. Economic and Social Council, Geneva, July 11, 1960 (Excerpt)1

We who are privileged to attend these meetings of the Economic and Social Council owe a debt of gratitude to Secretary-General Hammarskjold for his initiative in bringing us together on this occasion.2 The Council is recognized as the world's major forum for discussing, in the broadest sense, the great economic and social questions of the day. My Government therefore welcomes the continuing efforts of the Secretary-General to improve the procedures of the Council and enhance its effectiveness. The experiment of convening a ministerial

40 U.N. doc. A/4474, Sept. 6, 1960.

"U.N. General Assembly Official Records, Fifteenth Session, Supplement No. 16 (A/4684), p. 1. This resolution, sponsored by the representative of the United States, was adopted by a vote of 53 to 24, with 19 abstentions.

42 U.N. doc. A/CR/L.3/Rev.1, sec. 1.

1 Department of State press release No. 387 (text as printed in the Department of State Bulletin, Aug. 1, 1960, pp. 185-189).

2

The Secretary-General's proposal for ECOSOC meetings at the ministerial level was contained in U.N. doc. E/3311.

meeting on an important subject may well turn out to be a significant contribution to this end. I sincerely hope that our exchange of views over the next few days may be mutually helpful.

3

The Council's central interest is, and should be, sustained economic growth, especially in the newly developing countries. Here the representatives of the industrialized countries, meeting with those of countries in the process of development, have joined as partners in creating preinvestment institutions like the Expanded Program of Technical Assistance and the U.N. Special Fund. Here the heads of the specialized agencies tell us of the important work they are doing to promote economic development and human welfare. Here, too, we get a picture of national and regional efforts on behalf of the newly developing countries. It is by looking at this whole broad canvas that we get a comprehensive view of what is being done to realize the aim of the United Nations Charter for a "better . . . life in larger freedom." Such comprehensive study and exchange of views helps all of us to chart our future courses of action in this vital field of development, through the United Nations and other international institutions, through regional programs, and through national efforts. These activities all form part of an international partnership for economic growth to which the United States is dedicated.

In the Secretary-General's excellent statement to us, a statement which perceptively highlights the economic development aspects of the world economic situation, he notes the recent growth of regional or other limited economic institutions and raises the question of a trend which could be dangerous to the larger interests reflected in general or universal organizations.

How shall we answer this question?

Certainly there is need for arrangements of less than universal scope. Limited groups of countries, by joining together, often find it possible to succeed in constructive tasks which could not be carried out by a wider membership.

But certainly, also, such institutions may give rise to dangers, especially in the field of economic relations, where the interests of nations are becoming ever more thoroughly intertwined as interdependence

grows.

My Government is deeply conscious of both these needs and these dangers. It is the policy of the United States to test carefully the merits of specific economic institutions before deciding whether or not to endorse them. We believe that there must be persuasive evidence that they constitute the most effective available method to accomplish the objective in view. The objective itself must be a constructive one, designed to augment human welfare. And, finally, the means selected for economic cooperation must be in accordance with widely accepted

3 Established July 1, 1950, under U.N. General Assembly Res. 304 (IV) of Nov. 16, 1949 (U.N. General Assembly Official Records, Fourth Session, Resolutions (A/1251), p. 27).

4

Established Jan. 1, 1959, under U.N. General Assembly Res. 1240 (XIII) of Oct. 14, 1958 (American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1958, pp. 137–143). 5 Contained in U.N. doc. E/3394.

multilateral principles or norms so that they will not damage the economic interests of outside countries.

It is in the light of these principles that the United States has supported specific regional trade arrangements in Western Europe and in Latin America.

Similarly, under the right conditions special institutions can also be of great value in helping to promote the development of member countries without detracting from the use of other channels or from the economic development of nonmember countries. The United States, for example, is a member of the recently created Inter-American Development Bank, established as a further expression of the historic relations among the American Republics. It also participates in economic development consultations under the Colombo Plan. Our participation in these regional activities has not meant any neglect by the United States of the use of other methods of cooperation in economic development or of the needs of other areas. We continue to devote substantial resources to the development and economic stability of countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, both directly and through our contributions to the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the proposed International Development Association.s

All of these economic arrangements, whether or not within the family of the United Nations, serve the purposes of the United Nations.

The proposed Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development will also reinforce the basic economic purposes of the charter. The OECD will not, of course, be a new organization but rather a reconstitution, or remodeling, of the existing OEEC [Organization for European Economic Cooperation], which came into being as long ago as 1948.10

The record of European economic growth during the period of OEEC's existence has few parallels in history. Now, with the achievement of convertibility in most member countries, the problem for the OEEC is no longer one of European economic recovery or of liberalizing intra-European trade and payments. The time has come to broaden horizons, to emphasize the contribution which the industrialized areas can make to world growth and stability and to the development of the less developed areas. For this purpose it is proposed that Canada and the United States, which have been associated with the OEEC since the beginning, should now become full members of the reorganized institution.

The OECD would enable member governments, by consultation and cooperation, to use more effectively their capacities and potentialities in promoting the highest sustainable economic growth, improving the well-being of their peoples, and fulfilling their international responsibilities, notably the responsibility of assisting to the best of their

7

See American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1959, pp. 436–484.

See American Foreign Policy, 1950–1955: Basic Documents, pp. 2338–2344. 'See post, doc. 50.

See post, docs. 135-141.

19 See American Foreign Policy, 1950-1955: Basic Documents, pp. 992-1000.