UN General Assembly
1947

You will find the reading of its records a sobering experience. The records will show very clearly the reluctance to which I have already referred. They will show how pathetic, in a sense, and yet how dangerous, too, is the delusion under which some Powers continue to labour when in this enlightened age they insist on refusing to recognize the right of the non-self-governing peoples to freedom and independence. But, fortunately, there are a number of bright spots which relieve the gloomy political picture in the non-self-governing areas. There is the establishment of the Dominions of India and Pakistan. We have before us a proposal to terminate the mandate over Palestine and to recognize its independence. There is the prospect of increased self-government for Burma and Ceylon. And only as recently as yesterday on this floor we heard the solemn pledge of the United States of America to submit the Korean problem to the present session of the General Assembly and to offer suggestions as to how Korean independence might soon be attained.