108TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. CON. RES. 364
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Whereas on November 20, 2003, Congress, recognizing our
Nation’s historical responsibilities over the Former Trust
Territory of the Marshall Islands and its successful tran-
sition from Trust Territory status to full independence in
free association with the United States beginning in
1986, approved the Compact of Free Association Amend-
ments Act, which was signed into law by President Bush
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on December 17, 2003, becoming Public Law Number
108–188;
Whereas the Compact of Free Association, as amended by
Public Law 108–188, embodies and extends the close po-
litical, economic, and social partnership, as well as the
strategic mutual security alliance, between the Republic
of the Marshall Islands and the United States under the
terms of the bilateral association between our nations;
Whereas this partnership for peace and alliance for the secu-
rity of our nations and the world began in 1944, when
the heroic armed forces of the United States and its al-
lies, with the courageous assistance of the people of the
Marshall Islands at the risk of their own safety, liberated
the Marshall Islands from Japanese military occupation;
Whereas the friendship and cooperation between the United
States and the people of the Marshall Islands that began
during World War II continued during the next 4 dec-
ades, during which the United States exercised powers of
government in the Marshall Islands under a Trusteeship
Agreement with the United Nations;
Whereas during the Marshall Islands trusteeship era the aim
of the United States was to promote international peace
and security through its nuclear weapons testing program
which was viewed as a critical element to the success of
United States global leadership during the Cold War;
Whereas the United States testing program conducted in the
Marshall Islands and the strategy of nuclear deterrence
sustained by the United States and its allies, was carried
out in the hope that understanding its destructive power
would be the strategy for which we could arm the world
with reasons for peace among nations;
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Whereas from 1946 to 1958 the United States detonated 67
atmospheric nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands,
representing nearly 80 percent of all the atmospheric
tests ever conducted by the United States, and enabling
atmospheric tests in the continental United States to be
terminated and relocated at the greatest possible distance
from large cities and densely populated areas;
Whereas on March 1, 1954, the hydrogen weapons test code-
named Bravo yielded explosive power approximately
1,000 times greater than the weapon used in the 1945
wartime nuclear attack on Hiroshima, Japan;
Whereas the Bravo test created a mushroom cloud 25 miles
in diameter, and produced a crater 6,000 feet in diame-
ter, vaporizing 6 islands at the Bikini Atoll;
Whereas the Bravo test and the 12 year nuclear testing pro-
gram has been the defining experience of the modern era
for the people of the Marshall Islands, and these momen-
tous events created a common bond between the people
of the Marshall Islands and the United States military
and civilian personnel who shared hardships and suf-
fering with the people of the Marshall Islands during the
testing program, as well as the United States citizens in
areas affected by the mainland testing programs and
weapons production industry;
Whereas the people of the Marshall Islands, having learned
first hand the dangers of nuclear weapons, freely chose
in United Nations observed acts of self-determination in
1982 to enter into the Compact of Free Association in
order to become a sovereign nation allied more closely
with the United Sates than any other nation under any
other alliance;
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Whereas from the time of choosing self-determination, the
Marshall Islands worked closely with Congress and the
executive branch to bring about a strong understanding
of the unique relationship between their islands and the
other United States insular areas;
Whereas the United States nuclear testing program put the
people of these remote islands on the front line in the
Cold War struggle to preserve international peace, pro-
mote nuclear disarmament, support nuclear nonprolifera-
tion, and provide facilities critical to the development by
the United States of a deployable missile defense system
to reduce the risks of nuclear missile attacks; and
Whereas as a member state in the United Nations, the world
body that once had oversight of United States steward-
ship of the trusteeship for the people of the Marshall Is-
lands and their island homelands, the Republic of the
Marshall Islands has an unmatched record of working in
conjunction with the leadership of the United States in
the pursuit of international peace and security, the rights
and well-being of the peoples of the world, and in the
War on Terrorism: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That Congress recognizes as an historic
achievement of friendship more than 5 decades of strategic
partnership between the United States and the people of
the Marshall Islands in pursuit of international peace and
security, and recognizes with solemn regard for the cost
of preserving peace, the importance of the nuclear weapon
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test code-named Bravo at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Is-
lands on March 1, 1954.
Passed the House of Representatives March 18,
2004.
Attest:
Clerk.