Editorial Note

On December 9, 1953, President Eisenhower authorized the initiation of negotiations with Honduras for the purpose of concluding a bilateral military assistance agreement. Representatives of the United States and Honduras undertook preliminary conversations during the early part of 1954; formal negotiations began on May 17, 1954. Pertinent documents are contained in Department of State file 715.5 MSP for 1954. A Military Assistance Agreement was signed at Tegucigalpa, May 20, 1954, and entered into force on the same date; for text, see TIAS No. 2975, or 5 UST 843.

Concurrent with the negotiations for the Military Assistance Agreement, representatives of the United States and Honduras negotiated a related bilateral military plan. The “Plan of the Governments of Honduras and the United States of America for Their Common Defense,” initialed at Tegucigalpa, May 20, 1954, was transmitted to the Department of State under cover of despatch 505, from Tegucigalpa, dated June 2, 1954 (715.5 MSP/6–254).