800.014 Antarctic/12–3046
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Northern European Affairs (Cumming)
Mr. Lacoste22 came in to see me today by appointment made at his Request and inquired, under instructions from his Government, whether it was correct that the Government of the United States did not recognize any territorial claims in the Antarctic. I replied in the affirmative and added that although claims on behalf of the United States Government had been made by a number of American citizens and by official government expeditions, the United States Government had not formalized any of those claims; that, on the other hand, the United States Government had not recognized the claims of any other government but had reserved any rights it might have with respect to the Antarctic Continent.
Mr. Lacoste then said that he had expected this answer and had been instructed to leave the attached aide-mémoire.23 He went on to say that he was under no instructions to make any protest or enter into any further discussion of the matter at this time.
In the belief that French Foreign Office archives may have been dispersed or in part lost during the period of the German occupation of France, I read to Mr. Lacoste the text of the note which the American Embassy in Paris had been instructed to deliver to the French Foreign Office in January 1939 (File 741.5127/3),24 and the note which was delivered to the Foreign Office by the American Embassy in Paris on May 26, 1939 (See Paris Embassy’s despatch No. 4424, May 26, 1939.).25 Mr. Lacoste was interested and asked me if I would be good enough to send him copies of these notes. I said that I would be glad to do so.
- Francis Lacoste, French Minister.↩
- Infra.↩
- For text of note under reference, see telegram 13, January 6, 1939, to London, Foreign Relations, 1939, vol. ii, p. 1.↩
- Despatch 4424, May 26, 1939, from Paris, is not printed, but for text of note under reference, see Instruction 1487, May 16, 1939, to Paris, ibid., p. 5.↩