Office of the Historian

740.0011 Moscow/10–2143

Proposal of the United States

undated

Tentative Draft of a Joint Declaration34a

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 powers have laid down their arms on the basis of unconditional surrender;

conscious of their responsibility to secure the liberation of 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 peace and of establishing and maintaining international peace and security with the least diversion of the world’s human and economic resources for armaments;

jointly declare:

1.
That their united action, pledged for the prosecution of the war against their respective enemies, will be continued on a similar basis for the organization and maintenance of peace and security.
2.
That those of them at war with a common enemy will act together in all matters relating to the surrender and disarmament of that enemy, and to any occupation of enemy territory and of territory of other states held by that enemy.
3.
That they will take all measures deemed by them to be necessary to provide against any violation of the requirements imposed upon their present enemies.
4.
That they recognize the necessity of establishing at the earliest practicable date a general international organization, based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all nations, and open to membership by all nations, large and small, for the maintenance of international peace and security.
5.
That for the purpose of maintaining international peace and security pending the reestablishment of law and order and the inauguration of a general system of security, they will consult and act jointly in behalf of the community of nations.
6.
That, in connection with the foregoing purpose, they will establish a technical commission to advise them on the military problems involved, including the composition and strength of the forces available in an emergency arising from a threat to the peace.
7.
That following the defeat of the enemy they will not employ their military forces within the territories of other states except for the purposes envisaged in this declaration and after joint consultation and agreement.
8.
That they will confer and cooperate to bring about a practicable general agreement with respect to the regulation of armaments in the post-war period.
9.
That this declaration is without prejudice to the relationship between the respective signatories and nations with which such signatories are not at war.

  1. The italics in this draft are the passages underscored as explained in the first paragraph of the oral statement by Secretary Hull, infra.↩