Foreign Relations of the United States, Conferences at Washington and Quebec, 1943

Roosevelt Papers

Draft Protocol Prepared in the Department of State¹

August 10, 1943

secret

Protocol of a Proposed Four-Power Security Agreement Pending Permanent Peace²

The Governments of the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and China:

united in their determination, in accordance with the Declaration by the United Nations of January 1, 1942, and subsequent declarations, to continue hostilities against those Axis powers with which they respectively are at war until such states have laid down their arms on the basis of unconditional surrender;

conscious of their responsibility to liberate themselves and the peoples allied with them from the menace of aggression;

recognizing the necessity of ensuring a rapid and orderly transition from war to an organized peace; and

determined to establish and to maintain peace and to preserve international security with the least diversion of the world’s human and economic resources for armaments;

have agreed as follows:

1.3 The signatory states agree that their united action, pledged for the prosecution of the war until the unconditional surrender of the enemy states, shall be continued for the organization and maintenance of the peace.

2. Those of the signatory states which are at war with a common enemy agree to act together in all matters relating to the surrender and disarmament of the enemy, and to the occupation of enemy territory and territory of other states held by the enemy.

3. The signatory states agree to take all measures which they deem necessary to provide against any violation of the terms of disarmament by their present enemies.

4. The signatory states agree to the necessity of establishing a permanent international organization, based upon the principle of the sovereign equality of all nations, and open to membership by all nations, for the maintenance of international peace and security, and for such other purposes as may be agreed upon.

5. Pending the reestablishment of law and order and the inauguration of a permanent international organization, the signatory states agree to consult and to act jointly in behalf of the community of nations in maintaining international peace and security. They further agree to establish a technical commission composed of representatives of their military, naval and air forces in order to advise them as to the strength and composition of the contingents of their forces which each shall hold available for use at any time in order to preserve the peace.

6. The signatory states undertake to negotiate a joint agreement fixing maximum and minimum limitations for their respective armaments and forces, and for their future reduction, such agreement to become operative when peace is established and general security is assured.

1. The source text seems to have been before Roosevelt during his meeting of August 10, 1943, with officers of the Department of State, reported supra. Welles had given Roosevelt a copy of this paper on or shortly before June 19, 1943.
2. The last three words of this heading are a manuscript addition by Roosevelt.
3. As typed, each of the six numbered paragraphs was preceded by a centered heading, “Article I”, “Article II”, etc. These headings have been crossed out on the source text, and handwritten arabic numbers for the paragraphs have been inserted. (See Roosevelt’s instructions in the document supra.)