Extract from a letter from Liam Cosgrave to John A. Costello (Dublin)

We arrived on Thursday morning¹ and were met at the airport by Jack Conway to whom I gave your regards and who asked to be remembered to you. Later on Thursday, I attended the Special Emergency Session which continued until late on Friday. During this Session, there were many speeches and eventually the Resolution on Hungary, sponsored by Cuba, Italy, Pakistan and ourselves, was approved. Another Resolution, sponsored by the United States, was also approved, and a Resolution sponsored by Austria and confined to the rendering of assistance in the form of medical supplies, etc., was also passed.

The debates on these Resolutions followed the familiar pattern with the Western nations and other free countries supporting the requests for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary. This was opposed by the Soviet bloc. I should mention that some of the speeches made criticising the Russian action were noteworthy for the fervour with which they were delivered and emphasised the strong feeling which exists on the repressive action taken by Russia.

Aside from the speeches for and against, the other noteworthy feature was the strange conduct of Krishna Menon, who either abstained on some occasions or voted for the innocuous Resolution proposed by Austria while, at the same time, in his speech he deplored the situation in Hungary. By this he meant the fact that so many people were being killed and so much suffering was being caused but not attributing this situation to the Russian intervention. He is the leader of the Afro-Asian bloc. This, as you know, is the neutralist bloc. Krishna Menon certainly performs in an extraordinary manner and his actions and the actions of those associated with him in effect strengthen the Soviet bloc – at least, that is the result, as we see it, of what they have done.

So far as we can gather, United States opinion at the moment is that any attempted United Nations action about Hungary would mean World War III. You will have noticed from Press reports that Cardinal Mindszenty called on the free world and on the United Nations to stop talking and to take action. Whether anything further can be done at the moment remains to be seen.

I have met a number of representatives here, but mostly so far only for a moment’s conversation, with the exception of Lester Pearson with whom Fred Boland and I had a fairly long talk. He feels that the United Nations Force appointed for Suez will be able to effect a ‘cease fire’ and restore some measure of stability to that situation. Canada are providing an aircraft carrier from which it will be possible to despatch the forces without having to base them either in Egypt or Israel. Pearson was critical of the British and French action and feels that the best has been made of a bad job by the establishment of the United Nations combined force. I also met Cabot Lodge, Hammarskjöld and Selwyn Lloyd. There are thirty-six Foreign Ministers here.

Opinion here is somewhat sceptical about Eden’s future but there is no agreement on who would likely succeed him should he be forced to resign.

[matter omitted]