Whereas our traditional policy has been to consider
any attempt on the part of non-American powers to extend their system
to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to the peace and safety
not only of this country but of the other American republics; and
Whereas the American republics agreed at the Inter-American
Conference for the Maintenance of Peace held in Buenos Aires in 1936
and at the Eighth International Conference of American States held in
Lima in 1938 to consult with one another in the event that the peace,
security, or territorial integrity of any American republic should be
threatened; and
Whereas the Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the
American Republics at Panama October 3, 1939, resolved "That in
case any geographic region of America subject to the jurisdiction of
any non-American state should be obliged to change its sovereignty and
there should result therefrom a danger to the security of the American
Continent, a consultative meeting such as the one now being held will
be convoked with the urgency that the case may require": Therefore
be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, (1) That
the United States would not recognize any transfer, and would not acquiesce
in any attempt to transfer, any geographic region of this hemisphere
from one non-American power to another non-American power; and
(2) That if such transfer or attempt to transfer should
appear likely, the United States shall, in addition to other measures,
immediately consult with the other American republics to determine upon
the steps which should be taken to safeguard their common interests.
Approved, April 10, 1941.
[1] Public Law 32, 77th Congress, Chap. 49, 1st
Session.