Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1937, General, Volume I

500.A19/113

The Secretary of State to Representative Sam D. McReynolds

Washington , June 19, 1937.

My Dear Mr. McReynolds: I have received your letter of June 4, 1937,²³ requesting for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, a report on H. J. Res. 271, “Authorizing the President to call a naval armament conference”.

This Government’s efforts in the cause of disarmament are well known. Despite the disappointments of recent years and the momentum of the present rearmament race it has not abated its efforts or its continuing interest in the cause. Its cooperation with other nations in undertaking measures to lessen the immediate dangers of excessive armaments has been as constant as its advocacy of policies to remove the basic causes of such armaments.

To these ends this Government participated in the London Naval Conference of 1935²⁴ and ratified the Naval Treaty of 1936²⁵ which resulted therefrom; it participated in the meeting of the Bureau of the General Disarmament Conference, held in Geneva last month; it has, through diplomatic channels, kept in sympathetic touch with all phases of developments in the field of military and naval disarmament; it initiated and took an active part in the Buenos Aires Conference for the Maintenance of Peace; and through its liberal trade program it has continued to prepare the ground for a solution of the general problem of armaments by seeking appeasement in the field of economic armaments. Already there are some signs that there is a growing appreciation of the necessity for arresting the growth of naval armaments. I am not of the opinion, however, that the world situation is yet such as to warrant believing that a naval conference would just at this time be helpful to a solution of the problem.

The President and, at his direction, the Department of State are continuing to keep in the closest touch with every aspect of the situation.

Sincerely yours,

Cordell Hull

23. Not printed.
24. See Foreign Relations, 1935, vol. i, pp. 64 ff., and ibid., 1936, vol. i, pp. 102 ff.
25. Department of State Treaty Series No. 919; 50 Stat. 1363.