Слике страница
PDF
ePub

U.N. EMPHASIS ON HUMAN RATHER THAN NATION'S RIGHTS ?

Senator PERCY. At the time of the of the founding of the U.N., Governor Stassen, you said that the new organization should emphasize human rights rather than national rights.

Looking back over the last 30 years, do you feel the U.N. has done this?

Mr. STASSEN. Sometims it has and sometimes it has not. I think generally where it has, the best results have come from it.

U.N. ROLE IN THE ARMS CONTROL

Senator PERCY. Ambassador Yost, What role should the United Nations play in arms control today? An increasingly significant factor in the armament buildup is the transfer of arms from one country to another. Do you see any possible U.N. role in controlling the arms trade, and I am thinking especially of the Middle East, which is probably the most dangerous spot in the world today, and where our arms salesmen are moving the most sophisticated and dangerous nonnuclear weapons that we can devise to both sides?

What role should the U.N. play?

Mr. YoST. Well, I should very much like to see the United States take the leadership in trying to persuade the United Nations to take on a much broader job in the field of arms control particularly in the field of conventional arms control. Probably strategic arms have to be handled primarily in bilateral negotiations but the whole conventional arms field, including the transfer of arms, is woefully neglected. The U.N. has a Conference on Disarmament that meets annually in Geneva which has some good work in the limited fields of biological warfare, nonproliferation, planting of weapons on the seabed, and so on, but I think it should be given a much broader mandate to concentrate on the whole field of conventional arms.

Mr. GOLDBERG. In the Middle East we did offer such a proposal in 1967 as an element of insuring peace in the Middle East. It was turned down by the Soviets. I doubt that limitation of arms can be done unilaterally. The Russians do supply arms and our policy is a balance of arms. This is the only thing you can do until we can get some senseable mutual agreements between the arms suppliers. I think that is an element that must be considered.

ACTION REGARDING ISRAELI SITUATION

Senator PERCY. Is there anything you can think of that we should be doing now? I witnessed, with deep sadness, the anti-Israeli feeling at the United Nations, an isolation of Israel and the United States, but when I went through the Arab world there was an increasing willingness by Arab leaders to say that Israel is here to stay, it has the right to exist as a sovereign nation, and we are recognizing that; and the U.N. resolutions 242 and 338 recognize it. Yet we have this movement, as Justice Goldberg has pointed out, that is frightening and could do more to destroy the credibility of the United Nations in the eyes of the American people and fairminded people around the world than anything else. What should we be doing about this now?

Mr. GOLDBERG. I think we must make a sustained diplomatic effort to the capitals of the member states to get a more accurate reflection of world opinion at the U.N. We are not getting it now.

Senator PERCY. I want to thank all of you very much.

The committee is recessed until 10 a.m. tomorrow morning.

[Whereupon at 1 p.m. the committee recessed to reconvene at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 8, 1975.]

THE UNITED STATES AND THE UNITED NATIONS

THURSDAY, MAY 8, 1975

UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, Washington, D.C.

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m., in room 4221, Dirksen Senate Office Building, the Hon. John Sparkman [chairman] presiding.

Present: Senators Sparkman, Symington, Clark, Biden, Case, and Percy.

OPENING STATEMENT

The CHAIRMAN. Let the committee come to order, please. Today we warmly welcome our good friend and former chairman of this committee, in fact he was chairman longer than anyone in the history of the committee for 15 years—and a man by whose side I sat on two committees for 22 years.

Senator CASE. I was on Banking and Currency, too, when he was

chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. I remember.

Senator CASE. We suffered under him for a long time. [Laughter.] It is nice that you are here. I want to say now so as not to interrupt you that if I leave in my 10 minutes it is because I have to go downtown for a very sad errand and not because I want to leave.

The CHAIRMAN. They are having the funeral this morning of our friend, Senator Keating. I had hoped to go, but I had to cancel out. We are very glad to have Senator Fulbright before us this morning. I think it is only proper that we recall that when he was a freshman Congressman-Bill was elected first to the House in 1942-he introduced a significant resolution.

Mr. FULBRIGHT. It was introduced in April 1943 and passed in September.

The CHAIRMAN. He introduced the famous Fulbright resolution that has been generally credited, and properly so, to being the real beginning of the movement for all the nations of the world to come together.

It was the first resolution putting the House of Congress on the record as agreeing to participate in accordance with constitutional processes in the postwar organization dedicated to the preservation of peace and security. That is the Fulbright resolution adopted by the House of Representatives, as I said in 1943. I was among the Representatives at that time who joined 359 of my colleagues in the House to vote for the Fulbright resolution. The vote was 360 for it and 19 against.

In more recent years Senator Fulbright has encouraged greater use of the United Nation's machinery for the dispensation of foreign assistance and for international lending, for channeling Peace Corps type activities through a multinational volunteer corps, and for plaving a greater role in political settlements, especially in the Middle East. I could go on and name many things that Senator Fulbright has done. Probably one of the best known is the Fulbright scholarship program. Anywhere in the world you can hear about the Fulbright scholars.

Senator, Mr. Chairman, we are glad to have you with us. Do any one of you gentlemen have a statement to make before we let him start talking? You won't get to make one afterward. [Laughter.]

Senator CASE. You do him an injustice. You remember he talked a great deal when he was up there in your chair, but that was his prerogative then. He was never a man to let an opportunity go by. We are certainly glad to welcome you today and this won't be the last time.

SENATOR PERCY'S STATEMENT

Senator PERCY. I should like to join in welcoming our former colleague.

When we made up the list of prospective witnesses, Senator Fulbright's name was put at the head of the list because no one has put more emphasis on diplomacy rather than military force, to solve the real problems. We have wanted an excuse to have you back with us, Senator, and we welcome you.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Clark, you did not have the privilege of serving on the committee when Senator Fulbright was chairman. He was a great chairman. Senator Clark is a new member of the committee doing a very fine job.

Do you have any statement to make?

Senator CLARK. No. I did have the privilege of serving in the Senate for 2 years with Bill Fulbright and we are very happy to have you here again, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. You were in the Senate but not on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Senator CLARK. That is right.

The CHAIRMAN. We shall be very glad to hear from you.

STATEMENT OF SENATOR J. W. FULBRIGHT, FORMER CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

Mr. FULBRIGHT. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I appreciate very much this invitation to appear before this great committee. It does seem to me to be a most appropriate time just as we have demonstrated that military means are not as effective as some people thought they might be. The country and the committee ought to be on the move to consider the alternative which we are here to talk about today.

NO RATIONAL ALTERNATIVE TO U.N. PRINCIPLES AND PROCEDURES

As you know, I have had a deep and continuing interest in the use of negotiations and discussions rather than force to resolve differences. That is what this is all about. The experiences which we have suf

fered since the time referred to by the chairman, which is more than 30 years ago, have strengthened my conviction that there is no rational alternative to the principles and procedures of the United Nations. I might say, since you have mentioned it, that the impetus for that resolution, the reason the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the House accepted it, unanimously, I believe, at that time, was because we were in the midst of a war, and the costs of that war were so evident to everyone that there was no question about their approval. It was, as you have demonstrated, almost unanimous in the House as a whole and it was unanimous in the committee.

The circumstances, I think, were very propitious at that time. and so are they now, with a different twist, because the futility of the Vietnam war is now evident to everyone. I think it is a very appropriate time to be considering this matter.

It seems to me the development of the hydrogen bomb has removed any doubt from rational minds that the periodic breakdown of the old international system of sovereign States, precariously balanced in a chaotic and lawless arena, is no longer good enough. Incineration by nuclear weapons just is not glamorous or appealing, even to the most romantic of our cold warriors, so I again repeat there is no rational alternative to the U.N., or something like the United Nations.

COMMENDATION OF SENATORS SYMINGTON AND PERCY

I wish to commend Senators Symington and Percy for their reports. to this committee on their service in the 29th session of the U.N. General Assembly. I was pleased that both of these distinguished Senators concluded that the U.N. should be supported more vigorously by the United States. I especially commend Senator Percy for suggesting this review by this committee of the United Nations and its work.

U.N. STILL FUNCTIONS TO U.S. ADVANTAGE

I should like to suggest that Americans especially should be patient and understanding with the U.N. Our own Congress is about as near or similar to the U.N. as any significant political institution in the world. For 200 years, it has survived some tough trials and many tribulations, but it still functions to our advantage. The analogy is not close, nor conclusive; it simply suggests that discussion and compromise is the only known alternative to oppression and bloodshed, so I hope we will not abandon the U.N. but on the contrary, we should seek to use it and to strengthen it.

U.N. UNIVERSITY TO BE ESTABLISHED IN JAPAN

One example of our neglect is our failure to respond in any way to the creation of the United Nations University to be established in Japan. I am reminded of this primarily because I recently had the privilege of visiting in Japan and only returned about 10 days ago. The Japanese Government, I am informed, has pledged $100 million to the University, but the United States has so far taken no action whatever. It so happens the Emperor of Japan is scheduled to come to the United States this fall. I think it would be a very fine thing

« ПретходнаНастави »