organization without further delay, and without waiting for the end of hostilities. There must, of course, be time for discussion by all the peace-loving nations-large and small. Substantial progress has already been made, and it must be continued as rapidly as possible." He also announced that "further exchanges of views" with the other American republics would be undertaken by the United States "before the meeting of the general conference." s It was noted in the Department that Marshal Stalin, in an address on November 6, 1944, concerning war and postwar matters generally, said in connection with his views on the means to prevent "fresh aggression" by Germany: "There is only one means to this end, in addition to the complete disarmament of the aggressive nations: that is, to establish a special organization made up of representatives of the peace-loving nations to uphold peace and safeguard security; to put the necessary minimum of armed forces required for the averting of aggression at the disposal of the directing body of this organization, and to obligate this organization to employ these armed forces without delay if it becomes necessary to avert or stop aggression and punish the culprits. "This must not be a repetition of the ill-starred League of Nations which had neither the right nor the means to avert aggression. It will be a new, special, fully authorized world organization having at its command everything necessary to uphold peace and avert new aggression. "Can we expect the actions of this world organization to be sufficiently effective? They will be effective if the great powers which have borne the brunt of the war against Hitler Germany continue to act in a spirit of unanimity and accord. They will not be effective if this essential condition is violated." In the same address, Marshal Stalin, when speaking specifically of the Dumbarton Oaks "Conference," referred to "talk of differences between the three powers on certain security problems." After stating that differences did exist and would "arise on a number of other issues as well," he commented "The surprising thing is not that differences exist, but that there are so few of them and that as a rule in practically every case they are resolved. "What matters is not that there are differences, but that these differences do not transgress the bounds of what the interests of unity of the three great powers allow, and that in the long run they are resolved in accordance with the interests of that unity." 37 The close of this intensive effort to obtain the joint proposals that resulted from the Dumbarton Oaks Conversations was a turning point V for the preparation in the over-all field of international peace and 30 Ibid., pp. 397-98. ST Quoted as issued by the Soviet Embassy in Washington in its Information Bulletin, vol. IV, no. 117, Nov. 14, 1944, p. 4. security. The measure not only of the common interests of the major powers in this field but also of the difficulties to be overcome was now more exact than before, and the basis of the organization had been defined in most of its essential respects. The necessary further preparatory activities in this field were pursued as rapidly as possible after the Conversations at Dumbarton Oaks and continued without interruption through the remainder of the wartime preparation of American postwar foreign policy. Much as attention fastened upon them, however, they were but parts of the unfinished business of the preparation as a whole. Part IV THE UNFINISHED BUSINESS "Many of the problems of the peace are upon us even now while the conclusion of the war is still before us. The atmosphere of friendship and mutual understanding and determination to find a common ground of common understanding, which surrounded the conversations at Dumbarton Oaks, gives us reason to hope that future discussions will succeed in developing the democratic and fully integrated worldsecurity system toward which these preparatory conversations were directed." -"The State of the Union," Annual Message of the President to the Congress, Franklin D. Roosevelt, January 6, 1945, Department of State Bulletin, XII, 27. 339 W CHAPTER XVI Transition from Extraordinary ITH THE joint Proposals achieved at Dumbarton Oaks by the four major governments in the United Nations coalition, all remaining American preparation of postwar policy entered the concluding stage. Work already well advanced was completed, or became merged with operations, in which preparatory work is at all times done on specific questions arising in the daily conduct of diplomatic relations. The Dumbarton Oaks Proposals represented a decision among the four major powers on the future direction of their joint efforts toward world-wide peace and security. The decision was preliminary and incomplete, but it held out, in the circumstances, a promise of successful achievement. Though the Proposals had yet to be finished and the Charter had yet to be negotiated and ratified, the contemplated arrangements were such as to provide all the United and Associated Nations with an over-all framework for international relations and with a prospect of world order and advancement, in the light of which each nation could begin to orient its individual foreign policy. The intended permanent organization of international cooperation for peace—including, for the first time in history, all the major powers— was basic to the shaping of the entire future world order. Failure to complete the Proposals and to create the international organization was therefore nearly unthinkable, great though the obstacles to final agreement might be. It was in this field that the preparation had so far been least assimilated into operations and in which operations were longest deferred. Only limited work of a primarily preparatory character remained in most other fields. Since several questions had been left "open" by the Dumbarton Oaks Conversations, certain of which had to be resolved before a general United Nations conference to draft the Charter would become feasible, study of the open questions began immediately after October 9. It was predicated that such questions must be among the matters con |