Office of the Historian

200. Memorandum From the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (Palmer) to the Under Secretary of State (Hoover)1

Washington, October 27, 1956.

SUBJECT

  • United States Participation in Signing of Tangier Declaration and Protocol2

Discussion:

On August 23, 1956, Mr. Murphy as the Acting Secretary, approved United States participation in the nine-power conference [Page 543] which the Government of Morocco convened for the definitive settlement of the future status of Tangier. The authority for our signing the final instrument was defined in Mr. Allen’s memorandum of August 21, 1956 (Tab A).3

The Conference has completed its work and has drawn up a Declaration and a Protocol, translations of which are attached as Tab B.

These documents modify no treaties to which the U.S. is a party and contain no treaty commitments on the part of the United States. The fact that the United States did not sign, and therefore is not agreeing to a modification of the Tangier Statute of 19234 or the Franco-British Provisional Agreement of 19455 is reflected in the reservation contained in the second paragraph of Article I of the Declaration.

The only Articles directly affecting United States interests are those contained in Chapter IV,6 and especially in Chapter V, which concerns telecommunications and radio broadcasting. The drafting of Chapter V has presented some difficulty; it represents the best working arrangement which, after considerable effort, our Delegation has been able to secure from the Moroccan Government at this time, and leaves the way open to the negotiation of satisfactory bilateral arrangements covering the Voice of America relay facilities, concerning whose future the Moroccan Government has offered us private assurances, and the installations of RCA and Mackay. It has been approved by USIA and has been drafted in full consultation with representatives of the two companies, who were sent to the conference for this purpose, and who likewise have approved it.

Ambassador Cannon has requested authorization to sign the Declaration and Protocol with the representatives of the other eight Governments on October 29. I feel it most important that he receive this authorization promptly.

Recommendation:

That you authorize the signature of the attached Declaration and Protocol on October 29.7

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 771.00/10–2756. Confidential. Drafted by Bovey.↩
  2. For text of the Final Declaration and Annexed Protocol signed at Tangier on October 29 by Belgium, France, Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, see 7 UST, pt. 3, 3035. The text is also printed, together with information concerning the background of the international regime of the Tangier Zone, in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1956, pp. 716–721.↩
  3. The tabs are not printed. The memorandum recommended U.S. participation in the conference, which was held October 8–29 in Fedala and Tangier. (Department of State, Central Files, 771.00/8–2156)↩
  4. For text of the Convention Regarding the Organization of the Statute of the Tangier Zone, signed at Paris, December 18, 1923, by Britain, France, and Spain, see Great Britain, Treaty Series No. 23 (1924), Cmd. 2203.↩
  5. The text of the Anglo-French Agreement for the Re-Establishment of the International Administration of Tangier, signed at Paris August 31, 1945, is in A Decade of American Foreign Policy: Basic Documents, 1941-1949 (revised edition), pp. 610-613.↩
  6. Entitled “Concessions, Leases and Authorizations.”↩
  7. Hoover initialed his approval on October 27.↩