US participation in the activities of the IGCR during the presidency of Harry Truman (1945-1947)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21847/1728-9343.2018.6(158).155049

Keywords:

Harry Truman, Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, United States, Directorate, London, State Department, Refugees, displaced person, Earl Harrison, George Warren

Abstract

The article analyzes the activities of US representatives in the IGCR during the last years of the organization's existence. It is researched that with the end of the WWII the committee, initiated and founded by F. Roosevelt in 1938, faced new challenges. The history of the post-war period of the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees deals with the participation in overcoming the demographic crisis inEurope. At the same time, it was vitally important for the intergovernmental organization to be involved in the process of forming an international system with the mandate on refugees.

The actuality of the researched work is due to the lack of a special study for today and the schematic coverage of the topic in the works of predecessors. According to the results of the study, based on the use of the materials of the National Archives of theUnited Statesand the documents of the US Department of State, the main programs of the IGCR have been identified and the role of financial and diplomatic support by theUnited Statesof the Intergovernmental Committee has been followed.

It was researched that unlike the prewar period, American diplomatic representation in London, led by ex-director of the International Labor Organization John Vinant, played a prominent role in shaping US relations with the IGCR. It was found that the United States remained as a major donor, paying regularly at least 40% of the estimate and requiring a payment of proportionally lesser contributions from other member Governments in the IGCR. It was revealed that the institutional weakening of the IGCR did not occur when USSR and some other countries left the organization. Respectively represented in the IGCR remained the countries of South America. Through US mediation, the committee managed to conclude special agreements with a number of Latin American states regarding the conditions of acceptance of refugees from Europe. After the war, the IGCR failed to remain as the main factor and instrument for the international community to support forced migrants but it became the base unit for the creation of a new structure under the auspices of the United Nations - the International Refugee Organization.

Author Biography

Volodymyr Yushkevych, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

Candidate of Historical Sciences, Postdoctoral program student

References

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National Archive of the United States, Record Group 59, Microcopy 1284, Roll 58, Telegram sent from US Department of State to E. G. Harrison, July 2, 1945, image 65.

National Archive of the United States, RG 56, M. 1284, R. 56, Letter from Director of Executive office of President Bureau of the budget Harold D. Smith to the Secretary of State Honorable Edward R. Stettinius Jr., April 25, 1945, image 91.

National Archive of the United States, RG 59, M. 1284, R. 58, Telegram sent from G. L. Warren to US embassy in Rio de Janeiro, Jun 29, 1945, image 52.

National Archive of the United States, RG 59, M. 1284, R. 59, Report of the Director to the Fifth plenary session of IGCR, 1st October 1945, image 239.

National Archive of the United States, RG 59, M. 1284, R. 59, Report of the Director to the Fifth plenary session of IGCR, 1st October 1945, image 238.

National Archive of the United States, RG 59, M. 1284, R. 60, Report of the proceedings of the Seventeenth meeting Executive committee of IGCR, 6th November 1945, image 40

National Archive of the United States, RG 59, M. 1284, R. 61, Letter of the third secretary of embassy Richard A. Johnson to the Secretary of State concerning submitting Record of Proceedings for the Nineteenth meeting of the Executive Committee of the IGCR, March 12. 1946, image 240.

National Archive of the United States, RG 59, M.1284, R. 61, Letter of the third secretary of embassy Richard A. Johnson to the Secretary of State concerning submitting Record of Proceedings for the Nineteenth meeting of the Executive Committee of the IGCR, March 12. 1946, images 239-240.

National Archive of the United States, RG 59, M. 1284, R. 63, Letter from the First secretary of US embassy in London Cabot Coville to the Secretary of State concerning IGC Memorandum of Staff Expansion, August 8, 1946, image 74.

National Archive of the United States, RG 59, M. 1284, R. 66, Letter from Cabot Coville to the Secretary of State about Soviet Withdrawal from IGCR, 26 November 1946, images 99-100.

National Archive of the United States, RG 59, M. 1284, R. 66, Report of the Director of IGCR on Sixth plenary session in London, 29 October 1946, image 48

National Archive of the United States, RG 59, M. 1284, R. 67, Agenda of the twenty-fourth meeting of the Executive committee of IGCR, December 3, 1946, images 1-2.

National Archive of the United States, RG 59, M. 1284, R. 67, Incoming telegram from W. J. Gallman to the Secretary of State, January 9, 1947, images 11-12.

National Archive of the United States, RG 59, M. 1284, R. 68, Agenda for the Seventh Plenary Session of IGCR to be convened in London, May 30, 1947, image 97.

National Archive of the United States, RG 59, M. 1284, R. 68, Letter from Patrick Murphy Malin to F. Salter, 29th April 1947, image 143.

Published

2019-01-26

How to Cite

Yushkevych, V. (2019). US participation in the activities of the IGCR during the presidency of Harry Truman (1945-1947). Skhid, (6(158), 77–82. https://doi.org/10.21847/1728-9343.2018.6(158).155049

Issue

Section

World History