Evening star., 1948-02-29

the form Of unity the nations figh
take. BY now, including the Latin
panied us into war against the Axis
was arrayed against the Axis.
My first idea of the unity the
on the conferences at Lima ane
Havana. with regard to the Western
Hemisphere. This was that, wher
danger developed, united resist
ance must be organized. In m!
mind I extended that policy to th'
world situation, for from the Mon
tevi6eo Conference on I had otter
stated that our Pan American pol
icies were capable Of being applied
to the world.
Two Declarations Drafted
I asked my associates to 60 bacl
over the period from 1888 on with
regard to Latin America, to review
what the President had said on ths
subject of unity among the nations
fighting the Axis and to scrutiniz'
the procedures followed in the FRS
World War, including the subject ol
unity of command and military
alliances.
Then on Saturday. December 13
1941, I asked Maxwell M. Hamilton
chief of the Division of Far Eastern
Affairs, to draw up a draft of 9
declaration to be made by the ma.
tions fighting the Axis which woulo
bind them together until victory
and would commit them to the
basic principles that we upheld
The following morning, Sunday, ex-
actly one week after Pearl Harbor
I met with a group of my associates
to discuss this declaration and an
other declaration setting up a su.
preme war council.
We now agreed on the main point
of what became the declaration by
United Nations. The preamble first
reasserted the principles agreed to
by President Roosevelt and Prime
Minister Churchill in the Atlantic
Charter. 1t then stated that the
nations fighting the Axis were Con-
vinced that complete and world
wide victory Of all Of them is essen
tial to defend and preserve life,
liberty and independence and to
preserve human freedom and jus
tice not only in their own lands but
everywhere and that the struggle
in which they are now engaged is
q common defense against savage
and brutal forces seeking to sub
jugate the world"
Principles Agreed On
Then followed the specific points
of agreement, three in number.
Each government pledged itself,
first, ito employ its full resources
against the government or govern
ments which signed the tripartite
pact on September 27, 1910, with
which it is or may be at war, and
to continue such employment until
that government or those govern
ments have been finally defeated"
Second. Ito cooperate with the
others to the entire extent of its
to effect full coordination
of military effort and use OF re-
sources against the common en-
emies or any Of them"
Third, mot to cease hostilities
against or conclude q separate
armistice with the common enemies
or any of them, except by common
agreement"
Here, I felt, we were taking two
long and helpful steps forward in
comparison with our position during
the First World War. First, we in
tended to try to bind all the nations
fighting the Axis to the acceptance
of certain principles already stated
in the Atlantic Charter. These were
the right of peoples to choose their
own form of government, no ag-
grandizement, no territorial changes
opposed by the peoples concerned,
access to trade and raw materials,
improved labor standards, economic
advancement and social security,
international security. freedom of
the seas and disarmament.
Full Alliance Acceptable
Our Government, on entering the
First World War, had not endeav-
ored to bind the Allies to any war
aims. Various secret accords had
been agreed on by the Al
lied governments whereunder ter
changes would be made If
they won the war.
This time I felt that the Allies
should all be committed in advance
to certain principles. leaving details
of boundary adjustments and the
like to be settled later. If the prin-
ciples were strongly enough pro-
claimed and adhered to, the details
would find reader solution when
the time came to solve them.
1t was naturally necessary for us
10 know whether any secret agree
ments again existed among the
Allies. When I had this question
put to them they assured us that
there were no such agreements.
Secondly, we were willing this
time to join in full alliance with
the other nations fighting the Axis.
During the First World War we had
considered and called ourselves an
associated power" not an ally.
From December IS to December
10 my associates and I spent con-
siderable time perfecting drafts of
the document that became the
United Nations declaration. We
also discussed another document
that would have created a supreme
war council, composed of the heads
or representatives of the govern
ments of the United Kingdom, the
United States, China and the
U. s. S. r.