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Message to the Senate Transmitting Protocols Concerning Adherence of the United States to the Permanent Court of International Justice.

December 10, 1930

To the Senate:

I have the honor to transmit to the Senate for its consideration and action, three documents concerning adherence of the United States to the Court of International Justice. I enclose also a report of November 18, 1929, by the Secretary of State. I trust the protocols may have consideration as soon as possible after the emergency relief and appropriation legislation has been disposed of.

It will be recalled that on January 27, 1926, following extended consideration, the Senate advised and gave consent to adherence to the Court with five reservations; and it gave authorization to effect their acceptance by an exchange of notes. Consent to four of these reservations was promptly expressed at a meeting of the nations, members of the Court, and after negotiations undertaken with the approval of President Coolidge, two protocols were drawn to revise the statutes of the Court in order to embody this consent and also to meet the fifth reservation. The Protocol of Accession of the United States and the Protocol of Revision have now been signed by practically all the nations which are members of the Court and have also already been ratified by a large majority of those nations.

The provisions of the protocols free us from any entanglement in the diplomacy of offer nations. We cannot be summoned before this Court, we can from time to time seek its services by agreement with other nations. These protocols permit our withdrawal from the Court at any time without reproach or ill-will.

The movement for the establishment of such a court originated with our country. It has been supported by Presidents Wilson, Harding and Coolidge; by Secretaries of State Hughes, Kellogg and Stimson; it springs from the earnest seeking of our people for justice in international relations and to strengthen the foundations of peace.

Through the Kellogg-Briand Pact we have pledged ourselves to the use of pacific means in settlement of all controversies. Our great nation, so devoted to peace and justice, should lend its cooperation in this effort of the nations to establish a great agency for such pacific settlements

HERBERT HOOVER

The White House,

December 10, 1930.

Note: The documents referred to are printed in State Department Publication 44 (56 pp., 1930).

Herbert Hoover, Message to the Senate Transmitting Protocols Concerning Adherence of the United States to the Permanent Court of International Justice. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/210973

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