(3 of 3)
The State Department was laggard too. The resolution would, as Moynihan declared, abandon the U.N.'s "selective morality" and ask for amnesty in all countries, not just in such objects of Third World indignation as South Africa and Chile. But in order for the U.S. not to be accused of selective morality, its delegation first had to be able to vote with the U.N. majority in condemning Chilean human-rights violations. Chile is a sensitive subject for Kissinger; as National Security Adviser he participated in Nixon Administration decisions to undermine former President Salvador Allende. Approval for the U.S. delegation now to vote against Chile was delayed and delayed in Washington. On the last day, Kissinger was finally reached by phone while en route to a speech in Pittsburgh, and instructions authorizing a vote against Chile were rushed to the American delegation with just six minutes to spare. The amnesty resolution, introduced the next day, was deformed by hostile Third World and Communist amendments and withdrawn by the U.S. the following week, without a vote. No credit to U.S. diplomacy, it succeeded only in worsening relations between Moynihan and the State Department.
Lame Duck. Last week's showdown at the White House did not bury Moynihan's differences with Washington, and the announcement made no mention of how long Moynihan would stay in his post. At the U.N. many considered him a lame duck, his effectiveness curtailed. This would please his critics but not settle the question: How should the U.S. view the U.N., as a place for conciliation or for confrontation?
Third World radicals, notably the Cubans and some Arab and African extremists, are not interested hi conciliation. But Third World moderates are interested, and they claim that Moynihan has made it harder for them. Europeans, while agreeing with Moynihan on the basic point that developing countries can no longer abuse the Western democracies in public and seek their aid in private, are still worried about keeping their lines open to African, Arab and Asian countries, where they retain important economic ties.
Kissinger has insisted to TIME that he and Moynihan have had "no policy disagreements, only disagreements over the use of adjectives." With another U.N. ambassador, those adjectives might change, but not the fast-crystallizing American attitude toward the U.N. that Moynihan voices: "We will just not be rolled over."