All rhetoric aside, the fundamental long-range task facing the United States in its international strategy is to substitute processes of cooperation, order, and eventually world law for the anarchy and narrow nationalism that continue to endanger world peace and stability.

The birthday of the Organization of American States is technically that of the ratification of its Charter by the fourteenth member state on December 13, 1951. But perhaps that date was not so much the birthday of the Organization of American States as the date of its coming of age, the date of its realization that the existing organization that had developed over a period of fifty-eight years was no longer equal to the needs of the times.

As if such creatures were cheaper by the dozen, the family of UN specialized agencies celebrated the nativity of its twelfth and most recent member on March 17, 1958, when the Convention of the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO) entered into force after ten long years of anxious gestation. The organization has from the first been a child of suspicion, its fortunes subject to the various styles of amour propre indulged in by its parents. The government of Greece, for example, having disavowed paternity by withdrawing its original instrument of ratification when IMCO was yet unborn, underwent still another change of heart and reinstated its ratification in time to attend the baptismal ceremonies of the opening session at the organization's headquarters in London. To make public its doubts, however, that instrument bore an undisguised caveat that, in the event “the Organization extends its activities to matters of commercial and economic nature, the Greek Government may find itself bound to reconsider its acceptance” and have recourse to the withdrawal procedures in Article 59 of the Convention.

Among the many differences between the League of Nations and the UN systems is that characterized by the increasing expansion in the latter's structure of field operations along with the development of the administrative structure of field offices. This essay deals with the key field post, that of the UN Technical Assistance Board (TAB) Resident Representative, in the most far-flung of the new UN field networks.

The fourth emergency special session of the General Assembly, summoned by the Secretary-General in accordance with a resolution adopted by the Security Council at its 906th meeting on September 16, 1960, was held from September 17 through 19, 1960. During consideration of the provisional agenda, Mr. Wadsworth (United States) suggested that the admission of new members, scheduled for the regular fifteenth session of the General Assembly, be added to the agenda of the emergency session as item No. 1. After objections to this addition were voiced by the Soviet Union, several African states, and others, on the ground that the necessary documents were not yet in the hands of the Assembly, a proposal by the representative of Guinea for postponement of the matter was adopted by 43 votes to none, with 26 abstentions.

From its 865th through its 868th meetings, the Security Council considered the claim of Argentina that its sovereign rights had been violated by the illicit and clandestine transfer of Adolf Eichmann from Argentine territory to the territory of the state of Israel. After the representative of Israel had been invited to participate without vote in the deliberations of the Council, Mr. Amadeo (Argentina), opened the discussion by reviewing the history of cordial relations between the two countries, noting in addition Argentina's traditional attitude of opposition to racial and religious discrimination and persecution. Argentina had brought the case to the UN, he said, only after exhausting all the possibilities of direct bilateral negotiation. While Argentina did not defend the crimes of which Eichmann had been accused, nor did it seek immunity for him, it could not allow a crime to be judged as a direct result of the violation of Argentina's rights; thus this was not the case of Adolf Eichmann and his crimes against humanity, but rather the case of a country claiming justice after an act which, if it were to be repeated, might shake the very foundations of international order. It was in this light that the Argentine delegate presented a draft resolution to the Security Council whereby the Council would, inter alia, request the government of Israel to proceed to an appropriate reparation in conformity with the Charter of the UN and the rules of international law.

From its 874th through its 876th meetings the Security Council considered the complaint of the government of Cuba that that country had been subjected by the government of the United States to “repeated threats, harassments, intrigues, reprisals and aggressive acts.” The discussion was opened by Mr. Raúl Roa, Cuban Minister for Foreign Affairs, who began by asserting that Cuba had been under no juridical obligation to bring its complaint to the Organization of American States (OAS) before submitting it to the Council. He then traced the history of United States hostility to the revolutionary government of Cuba, hostility based, in his opinion, on opposition to the Agrarian Reform instituted by that government and culminating in the recent drastic curtailment of the Cuban sugar quota. In his reply to Mr. Roa, Mr. Lodge (United States) assured the Cuban government that the United States had no aggressive purposes against Cuba, and deplored the removal of the controversy between the two nations from its rightful forum in OAS to the Security Council. He also indicated, after a summary of Cuban-United States relations during the preceding year and a half from the United States point of view, that the reduction of the Cuban sugar quota had been no act of economic aggression, but rather a justifiable measure of self-protection on the part of the United States to ensure its needed supply of sugar in the face of acts by the Cuban government which made this supply extremely insecure. In conclusion, Mr. Lodge stated his belief that someday, somehow, Cuba and the United States would again be friends.

From its 880th through its 883d meetings the Security Council considered the charge by the Soviet Union that the United States had, through aggressive acts committed by its Air Force against the Soviet Union, created a threat to universal peace. Mr. Kuznetsov (Soviet Union) was the first speaker. Noting that it had been a mere two months since the Council had last debated the aggressive actions of the United States in a similar situation, he indicated that members of the Council were aware of the fact that on July 1, 1960, an RB–47 six-engined armed bomber reconnaissance aircraft of the United States Air Force had violated the state border of the Soviet Union, whereupon it had been shot down, two of the crew members subsequently being picked up in Soviet territorial waters. It seemed clear, he continued, that there had been no substance to the promise of the United States President to suspend flights of United States aircraft over Soviet territory; moreover, those allies of the United States which allowed the latter to use bases on their territory “for aggressive purposes against the Soviet Union" must be considered accomplices of the United States in these aggressive acts. Believing it necessary for the Security Council to take measures to make the United States stop provocative actions against other countries, Mr. Kuznetsov presented a draft resolution” to the Council, whereby it would condemn the violations of the sovereign rights of other states by the United States Air Force and regard them as aggressive acts, and would, further, insist that the government of the United States take immediate steps to put an end to such acts and to prevent their recurrence.

The Security Council considered various aspects of the current situation in the newly independent Republic of the Congo (formerly the Belgian Congo) at its 873d, 877th–879th, 884th–889th, and 896th–906th meetings. The first meeting was called at the request of the Secretary-General to hear his report on the demand for UN action submitted to him by the government of the Republic of the Congo. Accordingly, the Secretary-General opened the discussion by describing the three communications which he had received from the government of the Congo, the first requesting urgent technical assistance in the field of administration, and the second and third requesting military assistance; since the first request was within the limits of the competence of the Secretary-General himself, it was only with the last two that the Council had to concern itself. Believing that the presence of the Belgian troops currently in the Congo was a source of internal and potentially also of international tension, the Secretary-General proposed to accede t o the demand of the Congo for UN military assistance by sending to that country a UN Force which would not be authorized to action beyond self-defense nor to any action which would make it a party to internal conflicts, and which would be composed of personnel such as to avoid complications because of the nationalities used—that is, participation of troops from of African nations would be desirable, while that of troops from the permanent members of the Council would not. It would be of understood that, were the UN to act as a proposed, the Belgian government would of see its way to a withdrawal of its troops from the Congo.

From its 893d through its 895th meetings the Security Council considered, with a view to determining its own course of action in that connection, the decision of the Organization of American States (OAS) taken on August 26, 1960, to apply limited sanctions against the Dominican Republic for acts of aggression in Venezuela. In addition to the Final Act of the OAS meeting communicating the decision, the Council had before it the following items: I) a letter from the First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union requesting consideration of the decision by the Council; 2) a draft resolution, sponsored by Argentina, Ecuador, and the United States, taking note of the report and resolution of OAS; and 3) a draft resolution submitted by the Soviet Union approving the decision of OAS. In pointing out that Article 53 of the UN Charter provided for the authorization of the Security Council as a prerequisite to enforcement action by regional agencies, Mr. Kuznetsov (Soviet Union), the opening speaker, declared it to be the duty of the Council to approve the decision of OAS, thereby imparting legal force to it. In reply, the Argentine delegate, Mr. Amadeo, expressed doubts concerning the Soviet interpretation of Article 53, pointing to arguments in support of the idea that measures taken on a regional basis were subject to ratification by the Security Council only if they entailed the actual use of armed force. Mr. Wadsworth (United States) concurred in rejection of the Soviet contention, and the following speaker, Mr. Correa (Ecuador), in discussing the possibilities of interpretation of Article 53, urged the retention of flexibility in relations between the Security Council and regional agencies, in order to allow effective action for the maintenance of international peace and security without the necessity of bringing all such questions of a regional nature before the world forum.

Prior to the opening of the fifteenth session of the General Assembly on September 24, 1960, the Security Council unanimously recommended the admission to membership in the UN of the following countries: 1) the Federation of Mali 2) the Malagasy Republic 3) the Republic of Somalia;4) the Republic of the (Belgian) Congo 5) the Republic of Dahomey; 6) the Republic of the Niger; 7) the Republic of the Upper Volta; 8) the Republic of the Ivory Coast; 9) the Republic of the (French) Congo; 10) the Republic of Chad; 11) the Gabon Republic; 12) the Central African Republic; and 13) the Republic of Cyprus. The above actions were taken at the Security Council's 869th, 870th, 871st, 872d, 890th, 891st, and 82d meetings.

Consideration of the establishment of commission for industrial development: The major economic question considered by the 29th session was that of the establishment of a commission for industrial development to advise the Council in matters related to the acceleration by less industrialized countries of their industrial development. The Council had before it the following items: 1) a note by the Secretariat containing (a) background information on the action taken by the General Assembly with regard to this proposal, (b) a summary of the organizational aspects of other subordinate organs of Council, and (c) observations on past experience with the UN program of work in industrialization; and 2) a draft resolution, submitted by Brazil, Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, and United States, establishing a standing committee for industrial development.

At the 1097th meeting the Council approved the report of the Council Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, which recommended that hearings be granted to four nongovernmental organizations: the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions, and the World Federation of United Nations Associations. At the 1108th meeting, the draft resolution contained in a report of the same committee on the subject of applications and re-applications for consultative status was adopted unanimously, granting the request for category B consultative status to the Association for the Study of the World Refugee Problem, the European Alliance of Press Agencies, and the International Association for the Protection of Industrial Property, and granting the request for inclusion on the register of the International Association of Electrical Contractors.

The annual report of the Technical Assistance Board (TAB) to the Technical Assistance Committee, which covered the activities of the Expanded Program of Technical Assistance (EPTA) during 1959 and, coming as it did at the end of the first decade of operations of the program, completed the record of the first ten years, was made public in June 1960. The report revealed that the period under consideration (July 1950 to June 1960) had ended with the pledge of an increase in UN technical assistance, following some reduction in the size of the 1959 program. Although the amount pledged by the 83 member governments for operations in 1959 had been $29.6 million, causing a 3 percent reduction in the amount spent to deliver aid, pledges for 1960 were expected to reach an all-time high of $33.4 million. In the face of the retrenchment necessary in 1959, the size of the technical assistance program in Africa had continued to rise modestly, the continent having received 14 percent of the aid given on a worldwide scale, as compared to 12 percent in 1958, while slight reductions in the Latin American and Middle Eastern programs had been necessary. However, the largest expenditure on regional projects, as in the past, had been in Latin America, where the cost of UN and specialized agency participation in such projects as the Fundamental Education Center in Mexico, the Andean Indian Program, and the Central American Economic Integration Program had reached $1.1 million. A substantial proportion of new EPTA operations had been in the form of assistance to the emerging states of Africa, financed by the use of contingency funds amounting to $1.2 million in all, thus making it possible to initiate assistance for which funds would not otherwise have been available.

The Trusteeship Council held its 26th session at UN Headquarters in New York from April 14 to June 30, 1960. At its opening meeting, the 1051st, the Council adopted its provisional agenda, which included consideration of the most recent annual reports of the administering authorities on the trust territories of Ruanda-Urundi, Tanganyika, the Cameroons under United Kingdom administration, New Guinea, Nauru, the Pacific Islands, Somaliland under Italian administration, and Western Samoa, as well as examination of petitions, reports of UN visiting missions to Ruanda-Urundi and Tanganyika in 1960, matters referred to the Council by the General Assembly and the Secretary General, the report of the UN Advisory Council for Somaliland under Italian administration, and reports of various committees of the Council.

Attainment of self-government or independence by trust territories: At its 1052 meeting the Council decided that it should take note of the relevant General Assembly resolution and that the drafting committees on conditions in the various trust territories should take it into account. Furthermore, in accordance with past practice and with the terms of that resolution, a chapter would be devoted to the subject in the Council's report to the General Assembly.

Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, in the introduction1 to his fifteenth annual report on the work of the UN, June 16, 1959, to June 15, 1960, observed that the year had been characterized by 1) the development into independence of a number of African states, and 2) the importance of this development for the international community, (a) in the new UN membership of these states, and (b) in developments in the Republic of the Congo, which had provided the UN with the greatest single task thus far confronting it. These developments, he continued, had created for the Organization a responsibility to further and support the independence of the new nations, and were a test both of its parliamentary institutions and of the efficiency and strength of its executive. Negative aspects of these developments were an intense anti-colonialism, which had overflowed in a strong resistance to any suspected attempt of interference from outside and in elements of racism, and, in the parliamentary sphere, the new problem of longer debates and more cumbersome proceedings, although it was the conviction of the Secretary-General that the addition of new members to the UN would result in increased democratization of proceedings by lessening the influence of firm groupings with firm engagements

Case concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia v. Thailand): In an order of June 10, 1960, the International Court of Justice, having received the preliminary objections of the government of Thailand to its jurisdiction within the timelimit fixed for the filing of the countermemorial, set July 22, 1960, as the timelimit within which the government of Cambodia might present a written statement of its observations and submissionson the objections.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced on June 17, 1960, a twenty-year term loan of $15.5 million, bearing 6 percent interest per annum, with amortization beginning in 1963, to the Republic of the Sudan, to finance most of the remaining foreign exchange costs of the Managil Irrigation Scheme, local currency requirements to be provided by the government of the Sudan. The project was an extension of, and patterned on, the Gezira Scheme, one of the most successful irrigation projects in the world, and a 10 percent annual increase in the value of Sudan's agricultural output was expected to result from its development. Three United States banks participated in the loan.