844.00/5–2847

The Secretary of State to the Speaker of the House of Representatives ( Martin )1

My Dear Mr. Speaker: There is transmitted herewith a draft of a proposed joint resolution, authorizing the President to accept membership for the United States in the Caribbean Commission, established [Page 324] pursuant to an Agreement signed at Washington on October 30, 1946 by representatives of the Governments of the French Republic, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America.2

The purpose of this Commission is to encourage and strengthen international cooperation in promoting the economic and social welfare and advancement of the non-self-governing territories in the Caribbean area. Such cooperation is of vital interest to the security of the United States and is in keeping with its desire to advance the interests of the peoples of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands of the United States, the administration of which islands rests with this Government. Such a goal can be best and most readily achieved only through participation by this Government together with the Governments enumerated above, all bearing responsibilities of administration in the Caribbean area, in practical programs designed to promote the advancement of the peoples of non-self-governing territories in the area.

There is enclosed herewith an “Explanatory Memorandum”3 covering in detail the background of the creation of the Caribbean Commission, the purposes which it is designed to fulfill and the reasons which impel participation by the United States therein. For your convenience, there is also enclosed a copy of the agreement establishing the Commission.

A similar letter is being dispatched to the President pro tempore of the United States Senate.

The Department has been informed by the Bureau of the Budget that there is no objection to the submission of this proposal.

Sincerely yours,

G. C. Marshall
  1. The same letter, mutatis mutandis, was sent to the President pro tempore of the Senate, Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg.
  2. Draft not printed. For text as adopted by the Congress and approved on March 4, 1948, see 62 Stat. 65. For text of the Agreement, see Department of State Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS) No. 1799, or 62 Stat. (pt. 3) 2618. The agreement entered into force on August 6, 1948.
  3. Not printed. For an article, “Regionalism in the Caribbean: Six Years of Progress,” see Department of State Bulletin, May 30, 1948, pp. 691 ff.