Message to the Senate Submitting Treaties Adopted at the Inter-American Conference at Buenos Aires.

To the Senate:

I transmit herewith to the Senate with a view to obtaining the advice and consent of that body, five international conventions, two treaties and an Additional Protocol which were signed by the delegates of the United States of America at the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace held at Buenos Aires, December 1-23, 1937. The significance of these instruments is described in the accompanying letter from the Secretary of State and in the individual reports which describe and explain each document, to all of which the attention of the Senate is invited.

1. Convention for the Maintenance, Preservation and Reestablishment of Peace.

2. Additional Protocol Relative to Non-Intervention.

3. Treaty on the Prevention of Controversies.

4. Inter-American Treaty on Good Offices and Mediation.

5. Convention to Coordinate, Extend and Assure the Fulfillment of Existing Treaties Between the American States.

6. Convention on the Pan American Highway.

7. Convention for the Promotion of Inter-American Cultural Relations.

8. Convention Concerning Artistic Exhibitions.

The Conference at Buenos Aires which adopted these instruments met at a time of historic importance in the Americas. With the termination of war between two sister republics there had arisen among the peoples of every country throughout the hemisphere a fervent desire that war be banished forever as a method of resolving international disputes. The delegates who assembled there felt deeply the responsibility that had been entrusted to them and proceeded in their deliberations with a determination and dispatch which distinguished this conference. So favorable did the opportunity appear for constructive results that I journeyed to the conference to signify my own realization of the high importance of the conference, and I was accorded the high honor of addressing the opening session. I can, therefore, from personal observation testify to the earnestness of purpose of the many outstanding statesmen of the Americas gathered there, and to their determination to give an example to the world of international cooperation in order that peace may prevail.

It is my considered belief that the several instruments that the Delegations of the American Republics formulated justify in the fullest measure the high hopes for success which they bore with them. These instruments evidence the desire and the will of the American peoples to live in peace one with another and they provide the long awaited mechanisms for insuring the cooperation between nations indispensable to the maintenance of peace.

The original initiative for this conference came from the United States. It would, therefore, seem to me particularly fitting that the United States Government be among the first American Governments in the ratification of the instruments that the conference adopted, thereby giving a further indication of the sincerity of the good neighbor policy. I strongly recommend, therefore, that the Senate give favorable consideration to the instruments herewith submitted with a view to giving its advice and consent to their ratification.