U.S. SAFEGUARDS IN THE U.N. Senator AIKEN. I just cannot go along with the contention that the nited Nations could be blocked from putting a military force into e Western Hemisphere simply because of our strength in the ecurity Council. Suppose we vetoed a proposal in the Security Council for the United ations to put a force into Ecuador or Brazil, or whatever country ou want to choose. Then under the Uniting for Peace Resolution, the General Assembly ould vote to put a United Nations force in any Western Hemisphere ountry, could it not? Mr. GARDNER. It requires, under that resolution, Senator, an affirmtive vote of 7 out of the 11 members of the Security Council, to place he matter in the General Assembly. What I was suggesting was that I thought it most unlikely that 7 out of the 11 members would override an American vote in that kind of a situation. Senator AIKEN. I think we have to look ahead. I remember 4 years go everybody said, "Now, there is confusion, but everything is going o be all right in Cuba." We just cannot take anything for granted. I do not think we can take your suggestion for granted, because the members of the Security Council are going to be elected. We have 104 members now. We had 51-when we could depend on majority support from the United Nations at any time. We have 104 members now. We will have about 120 if they all get in. And they will elect the six members of the Security Council. I do not think we can take it for granted that they will always elect a majority favorable to the United States. I do not know and you do not know. But I do not think we can take that for granted. I well recall the Cuban people saying, "We are going to have the nicest little democracy you ever saw." Senator SPARKMAN. Well, there were a good many doubting Thomases around this table when Mr. Castro visited with us, if you remember. Senator AIKEN. We did not ask him many questions, because every time we asked him a question, we got an hour's speech. Senator SPARKMAN. We want to close the record. Are there any tables or records you are going to furnish us? Mr. GARDNER. There are four or five things, Mr. Chairman. I hope the record will refresh my recollection. Senator SPARKMAN. Will you get that material to us right away? Senator SPARKMAN. We will keep the record open until Friday, say. Mr. GARDNER. Yes, sir. Senator SPARKMAN. The hearings are closed. The committee is adjourned. (Whereupon, at 4:15 p.m., the committee recessed, subject to the call of the Chair.) 17 APPENDIX STATEMENTS, LETTERS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR INCLUSION IN THE RECORD "HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 8 "Concurrent resolution memorializing the Congress of the United States to limit contributions to the United Nations by the United States in proportion to its pro rata share based upon population, and to prohibit the United States from making any further loans by participating in the issuance or buying of any bonds issued by the United Nations. "Whereas, from information deemed reliable, the expenditures of the United Nations from its beginning through the year 1960 totals approximately $3 billion, of which the United States contributed more than 47 percent; and "Whereas on this date there are 104 members of the United Nations with a combined population of approximately 2 billion people, of which the United States has 180 million or approximately 9 percent of the total; and "Whereas each member nation has one vote (except Russia which has three), which gives the United States only ninety-six one-hundredths of 1 percent of the votes in the United Nations, yet it is paying approximately 47 percent of the total expense, which is ridiculously out of all reasonable and equitable proportion on the basis of wealth or population; and "Whereas for the Congress to permit the United States to be further burdened with such a disproportionate share of such expense is unfair, unreasonable, and inexcusable: Therefore be it "Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Legislature of the State of Mississippi (the Senate concurring therein), That the Congress of the United States be and is hereby urged to— "Limit the contributions of the United States to the United Nations to an amount equal to its pro rata share of the expense based on the ratio which its population bears to the total population of the members of the United Nations; and "That it prohibit the United States from participating in the issuance or the buying of any bonds to be issued by the United Nations; and be it further "Resolved, That copies of this resolution be sent to the Mississippi delegation in Congress, the Vice President of the United States, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress. "Adopted by the house of representatives, January 9, 1962. MARTIN SIEMS, "Speaker of the House of Representatives. "Adopted by the senate, January 15, 1962. "PAUL B. JOHNSON, "President of the Senate." FRESNO COUNTY REPUBLICAN ASSEMBLY, Hon. J. W. FULBRIGHT, Chairman, Foreign Relations Committee, DEAR SENATOR FULBRIGHT: We wish to invite your attention and interest to a resolution adopted by our unit during the last regular meeting, expressing our protest to the suggestion of our President that the United States purchase $100 million worth of the proposed $200 million United Nations bonds. The following resolution was adopted: "We, the members of the Fresno County Republican Assembly, do hereby vote that the United States should not purchase any of the proposed $200 million United Nations bonds, nor should we, the United States contribute any more money to the United Nations until all members of the United Nations are current in their dues and assessments." This resolution was passed unanimously by our unit and we urge you to consider our request in your capacity as the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. Very truly yours, of the pr ith believ ting Secr Nation ontradi der to the s of th than an arly to th Hon. JOHN J. SPARKMAN, New Orleans, La., February 12, 1962. Acting Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, DEAR SENATOR SPARKMAN: I am pleased to convey to the distinguished members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, through your good self as its acting chairman, this statement of support by B'nai B'rith for the speedy enactment of Senate bill 2768. B'nai B'rith's endorsement of legislation to authorize our Government to purchase up to $100 million of United Nations bonds is predicated on these basic factors: First: This action, as a vital expression of confidence by our Government and the American people in the continued efforts of the United Nations as a positive force for world peace and our national security, can serve to strengthen the prestige and authority of the United Nations throughout the world. Conversely, the current fiscal difficulties of the United Nations appear to be such that any adverse position on the part of our Government to the U.N. bond issue could be interpreted by other nations as indifference to and unconcern with the fate of the United Nations, an impression, we believe, that would have a deleterious effect on the foreign policy of the United States. Beginning with its active leadership in the establishment of the United Nations 17 years ago, our Government in the conduct of its foreign affairs has, with bipartisan strength, consistently pursued a policy of affirmative support for the concept, principles, and programs of the United Nations as the best means yet devised to check and reduce the threat of armed conflict and nuclear war. We do not believe, nor has experience shown, that American confidence in the United Nations is misplaced. We are pleased to associate ourselves with a view that is often-and regrettably so-overlooked, but that was eloquently restated to the committee by Ambassador Stevenson: that the real burden of U.S. diplomacy is to find, consistent with our national interests, common ground with other nations, and that the basic identity of interest between the United States and the majority of member nations in the United Nations has been demonstrated time and again in the history of that institution. B'nai B'rith similarly believes Ambassador Stevenson to be eminently correct in his statement to the committee that the United Nations has never yet taken an action injurious to the vital interests of the United States. Second: B'nai B'rith deplores, for its confusions and lack of realism, the character of challenge to the United Nations which criticizes it as a forum of political contentiousness. As a manmade institution, the United Nations has, and always must, fall heir to human fallibility. On the other hand, the contentiousness that may erupt, and has erupted, as parts of its evolving processes, is not a peculiarity of the United Nations as an institution, but is a commonplace commentary of world affairs today, which the United Nations, if it is truly to serve its purpose, must necessarily reflect. A tranquil United Nations in an era of political turbulence would likely be a vacuum of useless sterility. The fact is, out of the contentious issues that have confronted it, the United Nations, on a number of historic occasions, has shown its competency to act for the peace and security of the world. In particular, this has been demonstrated by the operational abilities of the Secretary General in carrying out the mandates of the General Assembly. No member nation has shown itself more conscious of this fact, or more disturbed by it, than the Soviet Union with its "troika" proposal for disabling the United Nations by crippling the operational strength of the Secretary General. Thus, there is Soviet consistency in its opposition to the United Nations bond program and in its negative vote on that matter in the recent General Assembly. It is des aber 31, 1 sents ag $50 per tions. Inasmu bonds United Arcent It is e U.N.' s the repay reinfo in th B' of S serve Sind ator YEAR Un PURCHASE OF UNITED NATIONS BONDS 295 In view of the preeminent posture of the United States in the United Nations, B'nai B'rith believes that a failure by our Government to strengthen the efforts of the Acting Secretary General by full support of his program to remove from the United Nations its current fiscal dilemma and serious threat of insolvency would be contradictory to our national policy in the United Nations and, in effect, a surrender to the disruptive aims of the Soviet Union. Third: B'nai B'rith believes that the cost for the proposed purchase by our Government of $100 million in United Nations bonds is not an excessive burden on our national resources by comparison with our total national expenditures for security and defense. Moreover, the bond method of financing the emergency peace-and-security operations of the United Nations, in addition to being an interest-bearing loan rather than an outright contribution, has a number of built-in provisions that are clearly to the advantage of the United States: (a) It is designed to eliminate for the 18-month period of July 1, 1962, to December 31, 1963, the further need for voluntary contributions by and special assessments against member nations; for the United States these amounted to almost 50 percent of the United Nations expenditures for peace-and-security operations. (b) Inasmuch as the resolution of the General Assembly directs repayment of the bonds by the regular budget of the United Nations, the apportioned cost to the United States for peace-and-security operations will be reduced to about 32.5 percent-our Nation's present assessed participation in the regular budget. (c) It is especially pertinent that no nation has yet refused to pay its share of the U.N.'s regular budget; moreover, failure to do so over a 2-year period carries the possible loss of a member nation's vote in the United Nations. Thus, repayment of the bonds through the U.N.'s regular budget will give practical reinforcement to the principle of collective responsibility for collective action in the United Nations. B'nai B'rith is grateful for the opportunity to express these sentiments in favor of Senate bill 2768 in the belief that the enactment of such legislation will serve the best interests of the United States. Sincerely, Senator J. WILLIAM FULBRIGHT, LABEL A. KATZ, NATIONAL LUTHERAN COUNCIL, Washington, D.C., February 15, 1962. Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, DEAR SENATOR FULBRIGHT: On behalf of the National Lutheran Council, I wish to submit for the record in connection with the hearing of your committee on the United Nations bond issue a resolution adopted at the annual meeting of the council on January 30, 1962. The resolution is enclosed on a separate sheet. The National Lutheran Council does not feel competent to judge the technical issues involved in the United Nations bond proposal. However, the council is committed to the strengthening of the United Nations as a channel of international cooperation. If in the judgment of your committee the proposal that the United States purchase a substantial proportion of the U.N. bond issue would result in strengthening the fiscal soundness of the United Nations and enable it to fulfill its function more adequately, we would urge that legislation favorable to this proposal be reported by your committee. Sincerely, ROBERT E. VAN DEUSEN. RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF UNITED NATIONS Adopted by National Lutheran Council at its annual meeting at Atlantic City, N.J., January 30, 1962 Whereas Christians everywhere in a divided and strife-torn world continue to proclaim the power of love and justice, and seek peace for all men and nations; and Whereas the United Nations has been under increasing pressures both here in America and abroad from those who have become impatient when its political and diplomatic efforts toward world peace have achieved less than perfect results in an imperfect world; and |