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Despite Vishinsky's efforts, Bevin won and Iran remained on the Council agenda. But London thought Vishinsky might win his case indirectly. The Iranian Majlis (Parliament) had chosen a new Premier, 65-year-old Ahmed Qavam, by a vote of 52-to-51. In spite (or because) of his large holdings in Azerbaijan, Qavam is Iran's most pro-Soviet politician. At any time he might withdraw the Iranian Appeal.
Spatting. While this hot fight was going on in the Security Council, the UNO Assembly had its wrangles too. Old-rose, well-upholstered Paul-Henri Spaak, the Assembly president, relaxed in his old-rose, well-upholstered chair on the blue-&-gold rostrum, sometimes made a note with a gigantic goose quill, quickly handled awkward situations. One spat came after Ambassador Gromyko had urged that the Communist-backed World Federation of Trade Unions (W.F.T.U.) be granted UNO representation. Peppery Premier Peter Fraser of New Zealand spoke up angrily: "Unless we get a resolution with which Mr. Gromyko agrees on every dot and comma, he is not satisfied. I throw that back in his teeth." Said Gromyko: "The method adopted by Mr. Fraser is far from wise. I might equally throw that back at you."
Shelving. The W.F.T.U. issue also gave Texas Senator Tom Connally a chance to pound the table. He cried that if W.F.T.U. were admitted, UNO would have to take in all sorts of special-purpose groups—even of women. Turning to a Syrian delegate nearby, he shouted: "Would you like to have women in here dictating to us what to do?" The Syrian, caught off guard, replied with a startled "No." Flushed with triumph, Connally kept on pounding. Gromyko whispered to his neighbor, "I hope they have reinforced the table." The W.F.T.U. application was shelved.
Staying? In its third week, UNO was already a town meeting of the world. This was largely due to U.S. insistence at San Francisco that the Big Power veto could not shut off discussion. UNO was already the focal point for issues that disturbed the world's peace—despite Russia's blunt insistence fortnight ago that nothing except the Big Three really mattered. Hope rose last week in London that it might grow from a forum to a town meeting in the effective New England sense.
The Russians, who had done most of the post-World War II political grabbing, were taking the worst verbal beating from delegates intent on restraining power politics. The big question in London was: will the Russians take it long enough to get used to it? The Russian methods were still rude and crude, but close observers detected no sign that the Russian delegation would pull out.
*UNO's 51 members all send delegations to the General Assembly; whatever the delegation's size, each nation has only one vote. Each of the eleven nations on the Security Council chooses one member of its UNO delegation to represent it there.