740.0011 European War 1939/32808: Telegram
The Minister in Liberia ( Walton ) to the Secretary of State
Monrovia
, January 24, 1944—10 a.m.
[Received 7:40 p.m.]
[Received 7:40 p.m.]
24. President Tubman and Secretary of State Dennis on several occasions have inquired if I had heard from my Government relative to question posed in penultimate paragraph of Legation’s telegram No. 16, January 16, 10 a.m.
President Tubman was to have addressed joint session of Legislature on subject today. He informs me that it was postponed pending my Government’s reply.6
Walton
- Without waiting for the reply of the United States Government, President Tubman addressed a Joint Session of the Liberian Legislature on January 26, 1944, requesting authority to declare war on Germany and Japan and to adhere to the United Nations Declaration. This authority was granted on January 27, and a state of war was proclaimed on the same day. On February 26, the Liberian Secretary of State wrote to the Secretary of State informing him of the Liberian Government’s endorsement of the principles of the Atlantic Charter (Joint Statement by President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill, August 14, 1941, Foreign Relations, 1941, vol. i, p. 367) and adherence to the United Nations Declaration. The Secretary of State replied on April 6, welcoming the Liberian action. This exchange is printed in Department of State Bulletin, April 15, 1944, p. 346. Liberia signed the United Nations Declaration on April 10, 1944.↩