Special Message to the Congress Transmitting Report on U.S. Policy and International Cooperation in Antarctica

To the Congress of the United States:

I am pleased to transmit to the Congress this special report on United States Policy and International Cooperation in Antarctica.

Men and nations alike tend to concentrate their energies on unsolved problems. In foreign affairs, disagreements all too often distract public attention from accords and agreements.

But preoccupation with world problems should not obscure situations like Antarctica where this country and others work together harmoniously to construct the prototypes of peace.

The Treaty provides for freedom of scientific investigation in Antarctica and for carrying on undiminished the cooperation started during the International Geophysical Year. It prohibits nuclear explosions in Antarctica and the disposal there of radioactive waste.

To see that the Treaty is complied with, national Observers may be sent at any time to any part of Antarctica to inspect various national installations. In late 1963, the United States sent two such inspection teams to examine facilities of six other countries. In January 1964 they reported that no Treaty violations were observed in any of the installations visited.

Since the Treaty came into force in 1961, the parties have held periodic meetings in a rare spirit of frankness and cooperation to find acceptable ways to carry out various provisions of the Treaty.

On Antarctica's icy wastes, scientists visit freely between their various national installations, sometimes spending an entire year working with their counterparts from other countries. Many important expeditions have been completed and lives saved in time of danger because of timely assistance from other national stations.

Thus the Antarctic Treaty to which the Senate of the United States gave its advice and consent to ratification on August 10, 1960, serves not only as a pact guaranteeing freedom of scientific inquiry in the Continent of Antarctica but, more importantly, as an outstanding example of practical cooperation between nations and a positive step toward a peaceful world.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON