For roughly 4 cents an acre, the fledgling United States doubled in size with the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, signed 210 years ago with France on April 30, 1803.
Acting on orders from President Thomas Jefferson (who had put his doubts as to the constitutionality of the expansion aside) American agents James Monroe and Robert Livingston had planned only to negotiate for the purchase of New Orleans and Florida from France. Instead they were offered the entire territory for the equivalent of 15 million dollars, an offer they hastily accepted.
April 28, 1965. 4:40 PM. Ambassador Bennett sends this cable from Santo Domingo to the White House less than two hours after the previous one. It begins: “Regret report situation deteriorating rapidly.”
LBJ’s secretary Juanita Roberts (foreground at her desk, in 1968) hand-delivers it to the President seven minutes after it is received, interrupting a meeting with foreign policy advisors.
LBJ Library, National Security File, Country File Dominican Republic, Bennett “HELP,” Box 48, #7c.
(via ourpresidents)
The “Iron Lady:” Baroness Margaret Thatcher, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, October 13, 1925 - April 8, 2013
- Photograph of President Reagan walking with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at Camp David, 11/06/1986. ARC Identifier 198578
- Jimmy Carter with Margaret Thatcher, 09/13/1977. ARC Identifier 176181
- President Bush Presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, 03/07/1991. ARC Identifier 672821
Letter from King Chulalongkorn of Siam, to President Grover Cleveland, 03/11/1893
The United States and Thailand, then called Siam, entered into their first official relationship on March 20, 1833, when the two countries signed a Treaty of Amity and Commerce. Formal diplomatic relations would not be established until October 23, 1882, when John A. Halderman presented his credentials as Minister Resident and Consul General. This letter, dated March 11, 1893, from the King of Siam to President Cleveland appoints Phya Maha Yodha as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, to be resident in Europe but to travel to the United States as necessary.
March 7, 1966. In a rare handwritten letter to President Johnson, General de Gaulle states the reasons for his decision to withdraw France from the military aspects of NATO.
“…France considers that the changes that have occurred, or are in the process of occurring, since 1949, in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere, as well as the evolution of her own situation and her own forces, no longer justify, in so far as she is concerned, the arrangements of a military nature made after the conclusion of the Alliance, either jointly in the form of multilateral agreements, or by special agreements between the French Government and the American Government.”
This decision led to the withdrawal of American bases from France and the relocation of NATO headquarters from Paris to Brussels. To read the full translation, see the Foreign Relations of the United States Series.
(via ourpresidents)
President Jimmy Carter, former-President Richard Nixon, and Deng Xiaoping during the state dinner for the Vice Premier of China. 1/29/79.
-from the Carter Library
Dave Brubeck and the Moscow Summit
We were sad to learn of the passing of Dave Brubeck, who died yesterday. He would have celebrated his 92nd birthday today.
In honor of the jazz maverick, and his efforts as an ambassador of music for the U.S. State Department, here’s a photo of Brubeck performing for Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev during the Moscow Summit of 1988.
As The Washington Post described:
“During ‘Take Five,’ observers noticed that Gorbachev was tapping his fingers along with the music.
“’I can’t understand Russian,’” Mr. Brubeck said at the time, “’but I can understand body language.’”
The Moscow Summit marked a thaw in the Cold War, and the day after Brubeck’s performance, President Reagan and Secretary Gorbachev would sign the INF treaty ratification at the Grand Kremlin.
Photo: Dave Brubeck performing for President Reagan, Nancy Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev and Raisa Gorbachev at Spaso House, Moscow. 5/31/88.
October 22, 1962 — Day 7 of the Cuban Missile Crisis
President Kennedy writes a letter to Nikita Khrushchev, Premier of the Soviet Union, prior to addressing the American public on live television. In it, he writes:
“I have not assumed that you or any other sane man would, in this nuclear age, deliberately plunge the world into war which it is crystal clear no country could win and which could only result in catastrophic consequences to the whole world, including the aggressor.”
See the rest of Kennedy’s letter to Khrushchev here.
(source: jfklibrary.org)
The National Archives’ latest exhibit: “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis” covers the 13 days when the world teetered on the brink of thermonuclear war.
October 18, 1962 — Day Three of the Cuban Missile Crisis
President Kennedy meets with Soviet Ambassador Andrei Gromyko in the Oval Office. The memorandum of the meeting notes the Ambassador’s desire to be open with the United States:
“Mr. Gromyko said he knew that the President appreciated frankness. Mr. Khrushchev’s conversation with the President at Vienna had been frank and therefore, with the President’s permission, he himself wished to be frank, too.”
Despite this promise of openness, Gromyko did not speak about the Soviet missiles in Cuba, unaware that President Kennedy already knew of their existence, but had also chosen not to discuss them.
(source: jfklibrary.org)
The National Archives’ latest exhibit: “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis” covers the 13 days when the world teetered on the brink of thermonuclear war.
October 17, 1962 — Day Two of the Cuban Missile Crisis
“To start or risk starting a nuclear war is bound to be divisive at best, and the judgments of history seldom coincide with the tempers of the moment…blackmail and intimidation NEVER, negotiation and sanity ALWAYS.” - US Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai Stevenson in a confidential memo to President Kennedy re: Cuba, 10/17/62
See the second page of Stevenson’s declassified letter here
(source: jfklibrary.org)
The National Archives’ latest exhibit: “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis” covers the 13 days when the world teetered on the brink of thermonuclear war.
A National Archives treasure is on loan to the National Portrait Gallery. The Treaty of Ghent (ratified American Original, TS 109) is exhibited in the NPG’s current show, “1812: A Nation Emerges.” NARA conservators have requested that light levels on the Treaty be kept to a minimum during the exhibit in order to extend the life of this document. This bound Treaty will be displayed open from June 15, 2012 through January 27, 2013. However, midway into the show a conservator will turn a page in the Treaty to reveal a new opening. This practice further reduces the risk of damage from light. Here you can see the pages of the Treaty currently on display.
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy hosts a tea party for wives of new ambassadors. The guests stand in front of the grand staircase in the Entrance Hall of the White House.
Guests include: Neila Zouiten Bourguiba (wife of Ambassador Habib Bourguiba, Jr. of Tunisia); Mrs. Frédéric Guirma of Upper Volta; Mrs. Sergio Fenoaltea of Italy (first name unknown); Helena Drozniak (wife of Ambassador Edward Drozniak of Poland); Mrs. Michel Gallin-Douathe of Central African Republic; Seelawathie Rambukwella Gopallawa (wife of Ambassador William Gopallawa of Ceylon); Mrs. Matrika Prasad Koirala of Nepal; Nepalese interpreter Bhinda Malla; Mrs. Il Kwon Chung of South Korea; Mrs. Emmanuel Datnongo Dadet of Congo; Virginia Rusk (wife of Secretary of State Dean Rusk); Mrs. Ousmane Diop of Senegal; Mrs. Seydou Conte of Guinea.
America and Britain draw the line
On August 5, 1846, President James K. Polk proclaimed the Treaty with Great Britain, in Regard to Limits Westward of the Rocky Mountains. This treaty resolved the Oregon border dispute by drawing a straight line along the 49th parallel. The line extended the existing boundary between the United States and Britain (Canada) over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.
Presidential Proclamation regarding the Oregon Treaty, 08/05/1846
via DocsTeach
On March 31, 1854, the first treaty between Japan and the United States was signed. The Treaty was the result of an encounter between an elaborately planned mission to open Japan and an unwavering policy by Japan’s government of forbidding commerce with foreign nations. Two nations regarding each other as “barbarians” found a way to reach agreement.
via Featured Documents: The Treaty of Kanagawa: Setting the Stage for Japanese-American Relations »
Treaty of Peace Between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Israel
On March 26, 1979, on the North Grounds of the White House, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin joined hands after the signing of the “Treaty of Peace Between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Israel.”
This is among the most requested photographs in the holdings of the Carter Library.
More- The Camp David Accords
