Introduction

The Paris Conference of twenty-one nations, which met from July 29 to October 15, 1946, convened in accordance with the decision made by the council of Foreign Ministers at Moscow, December 16–December 26, 1945, to provide the other Allied nations with an opportunity to express their views on the draft peace treaties for Italy, Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland. The Conference was charged with considering and recommending changes in the draft treaties which had been prepared by the Council of Foreign Ministers during its sessions at London and Paris, January 18–July 12, 1946.

Volumes III and IV of Foreign Relations for 1946 contain documentation on the Paris Peace Conference. Volume III, “Proceedings,” includes accounts of the various bodies of the Conference, of the Council of Foreign Ministers and their Deputies during the period of the Conference, and memoranda of conversation. The present volume contains the draft treaties submitted to the Conference by the Council of Foreign Ministers, amendments proposed by delegations, written observations by ex-enemy states, administrative and procedural documentation, United States diplomatic correspondence and memoranda, commission reports on Trieste by a special CFM commission and by the Conference Subcommission on Trieste, and final Conference recommendations.

For a more detailed description of the scope and organization of the coverage of the Paris Peace Conference provided in Foreign Relations, see the introduction to volume III. That introduction also contains information regarding documentation previously published on the Conference. Volume III also includes the following introductory items which are of interest in connection with volume IV: a list of the United States Delegation, a list of persons mentioned in volumes III and IV, a list of abbreviations, and a key to document symbols.