811.3382/32a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Liberia (Walton)
43. Department’s 40, September 15, 1 p.m. Following statement will be issued to the press on Friday, September 23:39
“The Navy Department has announced that the shakedown cruise of the newly-commissioned 10,000–ton cruiser Boise will begin on October 12 and will include informal courtesy calls at two ports in Africa. The Boise is scheduled to visit Monrovia, the seaport capital of Liberia, from October 24 to October 27, and Capetown, Union of South Africa, for the week beginning November 6.
[Page 823]There are a number of reasons why the visit of the Boise to Liberia is of interest at this time. The United States Government has completed plans for a modern Legation building at Monrovia, designed especially for tropical conditions, to take the place of the rented structure occupied at present, and construction is to start shortly. It is planned to dedicate the site of the new Legation building at the time of the visit of the Boise, with appropriate ceremonies commemorating the occasion.
For some time there has been in the possession of the Phelps-Stokes Fund, a philanthropic organization which for many years has contributed actively to the advancement of Liberia, the surviving portions of the bunting from which the first flag of the Republic of Liberia was made. As a special gesture of good will, the trustees of the Fund have decided to prepare this material in a form suitable for donation to the Liberian Government and the historic relic will be carried to Monrovia on the Boise for presentation following the arrival of the vessel in that port.
The Republic of Liberia has always been bound to the United States by close and traditional ties of friendship. In 1822 American freed-men established their first settlement near what is now Monrovia, and during the period preceding the Civil War many emigrants left this country under the auspices of the American Colonization Society and similar organizations to join the colonists on the West Coast of Africa. Henry Clay, as well as Madison, Monroe and numerous other distinguished Americans, became an active supporter of this movement. In 1847 a group of the West African settlements united to adopt a constitution modeled on that of the United States and a Declaration of Independence was issued on July 26 of that year. American citizens have since maintained their early interest and sympathy for the young republic.
The first treaty between the United States and Liberia was signed in 1862, after the outbreak of our Civil War, and was ratified and proclaimed in 1863. This treaty was recently replaced by the signing on August 8, 1938 of a new Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation. The visit of the Boise to Monrovia therefore coincides with the seventy-fifth anniversary of the initiation of treaty relationships between the two governments. In view of this fact, and considering the remarkable progress made by Liberia in the last few years under President Edwin Barclay, the occasion is expected to be something of a landmark in the history of the relations between the two countries.
The last visit of a United States naval vessel to Liberia took place in 1928 [1929].”
- See Department of State, Press Releases, September 24, 1938, p. 212.↩