Word: bevinism
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...core of UNO's first great test was, as many had predicted it would be, the Security Council's veto power. Russia's Vishinsky, in his best prosecutor's manner, had formally accused the British of endangering the peace by maintaining an army in Greece. Bevin had bellowed Britain's demand for clear acquittal of this charge. When it looked as though Bevin would win, Vishinsky threatened to use his veto...
...sweating councilors had tortured their brains and their vocabularies to contrive a verdict that was no verdict at all. One suggestion: let the Council note the debate, along with a British promise to withdraw the troops. Cried Bevin: "Really, I am not so childish as to fall for that." Another suggestion: let the Council declare that Britain's troops in Greece were no danger to peace but would be withdrawn, anyway. Cried Vishinsky: "I will vote against...
...much broken as spiked. The U.S.'s placatory Edward R. Stettinius had produced a compromise which both London and Moscow would accept. Vishinsky was willing to drop his charges against Britain-provided that this Russian retreat was not mentioned in the Council's official resolution. Bevin took a long, hard look at the record, decided it spoke for itself, and withdrew his demand for an explicit "not guilty." The final statement, accepted over much relieved smiling and handshaking, merely informed the world that a debate had taken place...
...Russians went to bat again the morning after-this time for Indonesia. The Ukraine's Dmitry Zakharovich Manuilsky started off mildly enough, charging on the basis of newspaper clippings that Britain was "endangering genuine national aspirations." Quipped Bevin: a newspaper has three functions: to amuse, to entertain, to mislead. The joke was ill-timed, and Vishinsky grimly pounced on it. The Briton had to listen while the totalitarian defended Britain's free press: "The fact that there is a free press in Britain entitles us to place some credence...
Then Vishinsky proposed that a UNO commission of inquiry be sent to Java. Blustered Bevin: "His Majesty's Government will not take that." The best hope of compromise seemed to be outside the Council; the Dutch Government offered Indonesians self-determination "in our time...