5 THE POST-WAR DECLINE OF THE INTERNATIONAL STUDIES CONFERENCE 449this, it would continue to serve as the secretariat of the ISC ‘until the
date of the final liquidation,’ which was scheduled for December 31.^81
At this point, Potter informed Mayoux that he did not think that ‘any
effort should be made to maintain the Studies Conference independent
of UNESCO’ and that he did not believe any such venture would suc-
ceed outside of that framework. At the same time, Potter stated that he
was ‘inclined to believe, that the UNESCO people will wish to start all
over again’ and that this ‘would mean wiping out the Studies Conference
as it has existed hitherto’. Based on these considerations and in light of
the discontinuation of the topic chosen at Bergen, Potter resigned as
general-rapporteur.^82
Mayoux was determined that Potter’s forecast in regard to the fate of
the ISC would not come true: he was determined that one of the IIIC’s
‘most cherished and valuable creations’ should not be left an ‘orphan’
as its parent had been. Thus, he began to campaign as tenaciously to
preserve the ISC as he had the IIIC.^83 It was doubtless important
that in the pursuit of this cause, Mayoux had gained an ally in the
form of Holland. Holland had recently replaced Carter as secretary-
general of the IPR and it was in his capacity as secretary-general that
Holland visited the Palais Royal on June 7, 1946. In a memoran-
dum concerning this visit which was later forwarded to Davis, Vranek
recorded that Holland had declared at the outset that the IPR’s official
view was that the ISC should be ‘maintained and developed.’ Having
(^81) Jean-Jacques Mayoux to Malcolm W. Davis, September 19, 1946, AG 1-IICI-K-
V-2.d, UA. On the reduction of the IIIC’s in staff numbers, see Renoliet, L’UNESCO
oubliée, 177. See also Institut International de la Coopérational Intellectuelle, L’Institut
International de la Coopérational Intellectuelle: 1920–1946. The institute’s last publication
was an account of its history. L’Institut International de la Coopérational Intellectuelle:
1920 – 1946 was published to coincide with the UNESCO’s first general conference. This
work was prepared by Mayoux and Vranek, the latter writing its section on the social
sciences.
(^82) Jean-Jacques Mayoux to Pitman B. Potter, May 14, 1946; Pitman B. Potter to Jean-
Jacques Mayoux, June 14, 1946; and Pitman B. Potter to Jean-Jacques Mayoux, August
27, 1946, Rappoteur Générale: Pitman B. Potter, 1939–1947, AG 1-IICI-K-I-24, UA.
Potter had ‘tactfully’ offered to resign from the position after the London meeting decided
to discontinue the subject chosen at Bergen. Mayoux to Potter, March 1, 1946, AG
1-IICI-K-I-24, UA.
(^83) International Studies Conference, Verbatim report of the XIIIth Administrative ses-
sion, December 16 and 17, 1946, at the Centre d’études de politique étrangère de Paris,
AG 1-IICI-K-XIV-12, UA, 48.