711.0012Anti-War/339: Telegram
President Coolidge to President Downergue
It gives me great pleasure and satisfaction to extend to you and through you to the representatives of the nations assembled in Paris my cordial congratulations on the successful outcome of the negotiations inaugurated by France and the United States for a treaty renouncing war as an instrument of national policy and pledging the signatories to seek only by peaceful means the settlement of differences which may arise between them.
The treaty to be signed in Paris had its inception in the proposal submitted last year by the Government of France to the Government of the United States. The idea of Monsieur Briand has been made world wide. I am confident that the simple provisions of this treaty will be accepted by all nations because I am sure there is everywhere a will for peace. It is a great forward step in the preservation of peaceful relations between the nations and therefore will, I know, prove to be a historic document in the history of civilization. It has been a privilege to the United States to contribute to the success of this movement, a satisfaction to have been associated with France and other peace loving nations in thus writing into international law one of the deepest aspirations of the human conscience.