Victory in the U. N.

The U.S. won a significant victory in the United Nations. India, most powerful of the neutrals, was denied a place at the post-armistice conference on the Korean war. and the U.N. side at the conference was limited to the nations which actually put troops on the fighting front. The victory came as the result of a policy decision made a month ago by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, essentially a decision to oppose the British-Indian position that the conference should be turned into a round-table discussion of any and all Asiatic affairs.

To United Nations Delegate Henry Cabot Lodge fell the duty of arguing the U.S. position in the U.N., and he argued with a singleness of purpose and a talent for counterpoint that the U.N. has seldom heard from the U.S.

He argued from a sound position: the U.S. owed a certain loyalty to its principal cobelligerent, South Korea, and South Korea's Syngman Rhee was firmly opposed to having India at the conference. More important, the U.S. knew that a round-table conference would: 1) give the Reds a chance to prolong indefinitely the negotiation of a specific settlement, and 2) tie the question of Korean settlement to the demand of Red China for a seat in the U.N. The U.S. is not opposed to a round-table conference per se, but objects to an Asia-wide conference until the Chinese Communists have proved their intentions on the specifics of Korea.

As Lodge argued through the week, much of the British press (see INTERNATIONAL), joined by some of the U.S. press, wrung its hands because the U.S. was suddenly on the unpopular side of a vote. The cries of "intransigence" faded somewhat once Lodge had won his point. But in the great hubbub, few stopped to realize that by holding to a firm policy, the U.S. had resisted a tempting form of appeasement --and thus probably contributed solidly to any genuine settlement to be made in Asia (if the Communists really want one).

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