Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, United Nations and General International Matters, Volume II

278. Memorandum From the Special Adviser on Antarctica (Daniels) to the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Murphy)¹

Washington, November 6, 1958.

SUBJECT

• Antarctica

The United States on May 2, 1958, proposed to eleven other countries participating in the Antarctic program that they join with the United States in a conference on Antarctica. The countries were Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Union of South Africa, U.S.S.R., United Kingdom. The purpose of the conference is to negotiate a treaty providing for freedom of scientific investigation and continuation of international scientific cooperation in Antarctica and ensuring that Antarctica be used for peaceful purposes only.

Since June 13, 1958, informal meetings have been held once or twice a week for the most part in the Board Room of the National Academy of Sciences Building among representatives from the Embassies in Washington of these eleven countries. Up to now, twenty-four meetings have been held.² The principal purpose of these meetings was to reach mutual agreement on time and place of the conference and on other procedural matters. It was the hope of many of the representatives, however, except the Soviet, that in these meetings preliminary agreement could be reached on some of the substantive questions pertaining to the treaty. The Soviet representative had consistently refused to discuss substantive matters in these informal meetings, insisting that all these substantive questions should be negotiated in the conference itself. It appears that the Soviet position in this regard has recently softened. The Soviet representative has stated that he does not object to the other representatives making comments on the substantive aspects of the treaty and that he would be happy to listen to these comments. He has implied that on appropriate occasion he might even on behalf of his government make comments on the substantive matters under discussion in the group. The Soviet representative in these meetings has not mentioned for some time the previously stated position of his government that all other countries which desire to participate in the conference be invited to do so.

Up to now, the working group has informally agreed to a two-committee structure for the conference and has made a list of topics pertaining to the proposed treaty³ which would be discussed by these committees. The group has also completed preliminary consideration of a set of draft Rules of Procedure⁴ for the conference. Both of these papers are being referred to governments for their comment and they will again be taken up by the working group after these comments are received. It is now anticipated that the working group will take up consideration of substantive matters to be discussed at the conference.

The group has agreed that there should be an interim of approximately eight weeks between the setting of the date of the conference and the conference itself. This would mean that a conference during 1958 is not possible. At this time it is impossible to estimate when the conference might actually take place though it is hoped that there will be sufficient progress in the working group that the conference can be held during the early months of 1959.

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 702.022/12–658. Confidential. Drafted by Luboeansky.
2. Memoranda of the first 24 meetings are ibid., 702.022/6–1358 through 11–558.
3. A paper on the organization of the two committees is attached to a memorandum of conversation dated September 17. (Ibid., 702.022/9–1758)
4. Not found.