III 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 364
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MARCH 22, 2004
Received and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
To recognize more than 5 decades of strategic partnership 
between the United States and the people of the Marshall 
Islands in the pursuit of international peace and security, 
and for other purposes.
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 
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
HCON 364 RFS 
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; 
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
HCON 364 RFS 
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; 
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;
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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 
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: 
JEFF TRANDAHL, 
Clerk.