1 The broadly conceived IGT (July 1, 1957, to Dec. 31, 1958) is the direct successor to the earlier Polar Years, 1882-1883 and 1932-1933. A third such period was called off because of the second World War.

2 Department of Defense, The Arctic, a Hot Spot of Free World Defense (Washington: DOD Pam. 1-12, Office of Armed Forces Information and Education, Feb. 21, 1958), p. 3.

3 See Quam, L. O., ‘ ‘ The Arctic Research Program of the Office of Naval Research,'' Annals of the Association of American Geographers, June, 1956, pp. 269-270 (abstract).Google Scholar

4 66° 33’ North Lat. Determination of what is “Arctic” properly so called and what lies outside this region cannot be made by arbitrary reference to the Arctic Circle, which indicates only the point north of which the sun is not seen at all during the winter and is seen continuously in summer. Delimitation into three zones is widely accepted: (a) the “sub-Arctic,” defined as the world-encircling belt in which the mean temperature rises above 50° F. at least one but not over four months annually; (b) the true “Arctic,” defined as everything north of the sub-Arctic or, more precisely, north of any point where the annual mean temperature is less than 50° F. for the warmest month; (e) the “polar segment,” a colder portion of the true Arctic where the mean temperature of even the warmest month is less than freezing or 32° F. Since trees generally fail to subsist unless there is at least one month when the thermometer reaches into the fifties, a common rule of thumb has been that the Arctic per ae begins at the tree line.

5 U. S. House of Representatives, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, International Geophysical Year. The Arctic. Antarctica. Report … , H. Rep. No. 1348, 85th Cong., 2d Sess., Washington, Feb. 17, 1958, pp. 35-38. The Lacy-Zaroubin Cultural Exchange Agreement of Jan. 27, 1958, recorded (Sec. XIV) agreement in principle on direct flights between the Soviet Union and the United States on the basis of reciprocity; specific terms were made a matter for later negotiation. Reciprocal aerial observation of Arctic ice in connection with the IGY was proposed to the U.S.S.R. without success by the United States in the fall of 1956. 35 Dept. of State Bulletin 508-509 (1956); ibid. 953.

6 Col. Bernt Balchen (U. S. Air Force, Ret.) as quoted in Dept. of Defense Fam. 1-12, loc. cit.

7 For the latest U. S.-Canadian agreement on NORAD, see 38 Dept. of State Bulletin 979-980 (1958).

8 Thule was arranged for under the ‘ ‘ common defense'’ terms of the Copenhagen agreement of April 27, 1951, between Denmark and the U. 8.

9 U. S. House of Representatives, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, pp. ait., p. 38.

9a At the national reactor testing station in Idaho Falls, Idaho, a prototype of the desired “package” unit was pronounced a success on Aug. 13, 1958, by the Argonne National Laboratory (operated by the University of Chicago for the Atomic Energy Commission). The unit at full power is designed to produce 3,000 thermal kilowatts and require refueling only once every three years. The reactor is an air-cooled, directcycle, natural-circulation boiler type requiring little installation work and adaptable to any terrain. Even the largest component, measuring some 20 by 9 by 7 feet and weighing no more than ten tons, is transportable by air. The saving in diesel fuel oil alone will be an immense reduction in the logistical support of any remote base.

10 New York Times, Jan, 25, 1958.

11 U.N. Doc. S/3991, April 18, 1958. For the text of the statement and the U. S. reply see New York Times, April 19, 1958, pp. 1-4; 38 Dept. of State Bulletin 728-729 (1958). United Press dispatches were cited by the Soviets as the source of information about such “armed” flights. The April dispatch by Frank H. Bartholomew, President of United Press, which described in some detail the SAC procedures and state of readiness, is printed in the New York Times, April 19, 1958.

12 U.N. Doc. S/3993, April 21, 1958. For the U. S. statement by Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, see 38 Dept. of State Bulletin 760-763 (1958).

13 Japan (by previous announcement) and the U. K., France, Canada, China, Colombia, Iraq, Panama and the U. 8. (from orientation of remarks during debate). Sweden, the tenth member, made no comment in the discussion.

14 When the general “open skies” plan advanced by President Eisenhower at the July, 1955, Geneva Summit Meeting failed to win Soviet approval, the United States offered to restrict the scheme to a designated zone in the Arctic regions. This alternative plan, submitted at the 1957 London disarmament talks, while not rejected by Moscow, was at least outwardly belittled. At that time Arctic wastes inhabited only by polar bears were not deemed worthy of serious discussion. See 33 Dept. of State Bulletin 173 (1955) (“open skies“); ibid. 643; 36 ibid. 961 (1957) (Dulles’ news conference of May 29, where announcement was made that the U. 8. would be willing to start the “open skies” in a limited area suca as the Arctic in order not to have “the whole process … get togged down“); 38 ibid. 679 (1958) (text of April 8 restatement). See also Time, May 12, 1958, pp. 24-25, with map of proposed Arctic inspection zone.

15 U.N. Doc. 8/3995, April 28, 1958.

16 For the text of the letter from President Eisenhower to Khrushchev, dated April 28, see 38 Dept. of State Bulletin 811-812 (1958); Khrushchev's May 9 reply is ibid. 940-942. Lodge's address, along with other speeches and a Soviet counter-resolution are in U.N. Doc. S/P.V. 814, April 29, 1958, with map of the proposed inspection zone.

17 For this move the Secretary General was mildly rebuked by Mr. Sobolev but strongly attacked in the Soviet press.

18 U.N. Doc. DC/SC.1/66, Annex 5, p. 7 (as quoted by the U. S. representative in U.N. Doc. S/P.V.814, April 29, 1958, p. 21).

19 U.N. Doc. S/P.V.814, p. 21.

20 Ibid. 36. For the Lodge rebuttal to Sobolev's objections to the modified U. S. proposal, see 38 Dept. of State Bulletin 819-820 (1958).

21 U.N. Doc. S/3998, April 29, 1958. Italics in the original. Sweden agreed to a U. S. suggestion to change “ t h e “ to “ a “ before “summit conference.” The final text of the draft resolution, the Swedish amendment having been accepted, appears in 38 Dept. of State Bulletin 820 (1958).

22 Subsequently a Soviet counter-proposal (U.N. Doc. S/3997, April 29, 1958) to refer not only the Polar question but also the questions of nuclear weapons tests, nuclear weapons prohibition and relinquishment of U. S. bases in Europe to the ” summit “ was rejected by a vote of 9 to 1, with Sweden abstaining.

23 At the Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law, April I 25, 1958, Panel IV, “Legal Problems and the Political Situation in the Polar Areas,“ undertook to examine the peculiar circumstances, the traditional law and the possible

24 During the Antarctic seasons commencing in 1946 and in 1947, the U. S. held Operations Highjump and Windmill. The next major expedition was in 1955.

25 An interesting by-product is New Zealand's increased earnings of over a million dollars annually from purchases of supplies by American expeditions and personal items by expedition members and staff. alternatives for “normalization” of these regions. ^Representatives from international law, physical science, diplomacy and the military participated. The results will be found in the Society's Proceedings, 1958, at pp. 135 ff.

26 Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, Norway, New Zealand, the Soviet Union, the Union of South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. Scientific assignments and procedures for the IGY had been placed in the hands of a special committee (Comity Special de l'Annfie GSophysique Internationale, or CSAGI) in 1953 by the International Council of Scientific Unions. Four preparatory conferences were held in Paris and Brussels in 1955, 1956 and 1957 by the Committee's subdivision, an Adjoint Secretary for the Antarctic.

27 As early as June, 1957, the U. S. delegate to the Antarctic meeting in Paris had urged continuation of the scientifically important and costly IGY stations. This position was maintained also at The Hague. The U. S., U.S.S.B., Belgium and Argentina favored extension; Australia, Chile, the Union of South Africa and the U. K. were, at that time, opposed. The remaining states had not reached a decision.

28 The House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce had so recommended in a letter to the President, dated Jan. 17, 1958. The Committee also recommended ” a re-evaluation” of the traditional U. S. position on territorial claims, in view of the establishment of permanent stations and the potential development of Antarctic air routes. It was further recommended that a permanent supply station be constructed to supplant Boss Island's temporary facilities and that the Marble Point (McMurdo Sound) area be made into a major, permanent, snow-free airport locking toward future, regular commercial as well as scientific air service. A six-man Subcommittee on Transportation and Communication, headed by Rep. Oren Harris of Arkansas, had visited the U. S. installations in the Antarctic in November, 1957; members of the group were much impressed with the tourist potential as well as the strategic and scientific importance of the region.

29 South Pole, Hallett, McMurdo Sound and Byrd Stations. Wilkes, Ellsworth and Little America were to be evacuated. The dropping of Little America, on shelf ice and formerly the main base, is consistent with the new efforts to place American operations on sounder physical footing; the McMurdo Sound station will become U. S. headquarters. Little America and McMurdo are both within the sector claimed by New Zealand, as is Hallett. Wilkes Station is in the Australian sector, but Byrd Station is in the region left open for an official U. S. claim. The South Pole station is situated at the apex of every sector claim and thus theoretically within them all, except that Norway's claim does not pretend to extend farther south than Norwegians have explored.

30 In addition to the coastal supply and headquarters base at Mirny on the Queen Mary Coast, the Soviets man Pionerskaya, Vostok I, Komsomolskaya (at the Geomagnetic Pole) and Sovietskaya, the latter being the base set up by the party attempting— so far without success—to reach the 14,000-foot high, so-called “pole of inaccessibility,“ the point on the Antarctic Continent most remote from the sea. All Bussian activity is within the sector claimed by Australia.

31 Mikhail Somov, Director of the Soviet Antarctic Expedition, reportedly favors “some sort of permanent international scientific station in the Antarctic.” New York Times, Feb. 21, 1958. During the August, 1958, meeting of SCAB in Moscow, the U.S.S.R. announced its intention to discontinue the intermediary station, Pionerskaya, but to add two more bases, one on Queen Maud Land (an area claimed by Norway) and another on the hitherto unattainable coast of Bellingshausen Sea (this could be placed either in the Chilean sector or in the so far unclaimed area). A tractor expedition from the Bussian Vostok station to the South Pole and thence to the “pole of inaccessibility” (c. 14,000 feet altitude) is also planned.

32 The U. S. provides existing facilities and supplies; Australia will take over future administration and logistical support. Personnel from both countries will man the station's scientific program. These arrangements are to “have no effect on the rights or claims asserted by either country in Antarctica.” 38 Dept. of State Bulletin 912 (1958) (Press Release No. 245, May 6, 1958).

33 Chile, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Administrative Bureau, Foreign Information and Cultural ^Relations Branch, Circular No. 21, Santiago, Feb. 18, 1958.

34 Laurence M. Gould, Antarctica in World Affairs (Foreign Policy Association Headline Series No. 128, New York: March-April, 1958), p. 29. The best published account of this period is in The Memoirs of Cordell Hull, “Vol. 1, pp. 758-759 (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1948). During the war, German raiders actually captured part of the Norwegian whaling fleet in sub-Antarctic waters; there is no evidence of Japanese or Italian operations. Apprehension over pro-Nazi elements in Argentina led to the establishment of British bases in the Palmer Peninsula area to help protect the critical Drake Strait.

35 38 Dept. of State Bulletin 910-911 (1958) (White House Press Release, May 3 1958).

36 Ibid. 911-912; emphasis supplied.

37 As an aid to general study and analysis of the question, the United States Antarctic Projects Officer arranged for the publication of this writer's annotated bibliography of 1,117 entries by the Government Printing Office under the title: National Interests in Antarctica (in press).

38 See in particular the article by Julio Escudero G., “La Prfixima conferencia internacional antartica,” El Mercurio (Santiago, Chile), May 31, 1958, in which some of the principles are said to be easy of attainment, but others, it is feared, will lead ” t o long and perhaps impassioned discussion.“

39 The most ambitious public exposition of this theory to date appears in the series of three articles: “Teorías de reivindicaciones y derechos sobre territorios antárticos. Tema apasionante. Desde el derecho de conquista a la f?rmula de Eisenhower pasando por la internacionalizaci?n y la teoría de las proyecciones. Posici?n uruguaya ante sus posibles derechos,” El Dia (Montevideo) May 13 (p. 9), 14 (p. 9) and 15 (p. 10), 1958, maps (including two showing the operation of the “theory of projections“). Uruguayan military and diplomatic leaders are quoted extensively in this connection.

40 For example, the Instituto Antartico Argentino has been reorganized and now issues a twice-yearly Boletin, beginning with Vol. 1, No. 1 in May, 1957 (No. 2, Nov., 1957). Chilean Foreign Minister Sepulveda has taken over personal direction of his country's Antarctic Commission; the Minister of National Defense serves as alternate president and the chairmen of the foreign affairs committees of the Chilean Senate and Chamber of Deputies are now regular members. To organize and sustain the program of the New Zealand Government, an “Antarctic Executive Officer” has been appointed to the staff of the Chairman of the Boss Dependency Research Committee. The committee chairman is also Director of the Geophysics Division in the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.

41 U.N. Doc. A/3852, July 15, 1958.

42 The contingents from New Zealand, Australia, Norway, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Japan, Argentina and Chile total roughly 200; the Soviet Union has 175 and the United States, approximately 340. Although larger “population” totals can be had for the summer months, this is a new record for year-round habitation. The Russians employ women, but in summer parties only.

43 Headed by Dr. “Vivian Fuchs. Only two others, Norway's Roald Amundsen and Britain's Capt. Robert Falcon Scott had previously reached the South Pole by overland means (on Dee. 14, 1911, and Jan. 18, 1912, respectively); Scott's party perished in the return. Admiral Byrd was next to sight the South Pole, but this was by plane on Nov. 28, 1929. The U. S. now operates a year-round base there, established and supplied entirely by air.

44 In Arctic Finland, land formerly submerged during the ice age has gradually emerged. Central Greenland also has regions where the ice apparently has pushed the land to an elevation below sea level.

45 Drilling for ice core samples had proceeded at Byrd Station only to a depth of 1,013 feet in early 1958. From soundings taken by the various countries during the IGY, we do know, however, that there is some 40 percent more ice in the world than previously estimated.

46 Landing strips on the ice are very treacherous and, when on the shelf, likely to deteriorate or break off and drift away, as have the Navy's best efforts in 1956, 1957 and 1958.

47 The only other airstrip on land in the Antarctic is the 2,400-foot field of volcanic ash leveled by Sir Hubert Wilkins on Deception Island in 1928. The first flight over the region was made by him from this base, but tricky operating conditions within the island (a low, flocded cone) and length limitations have rendered the strip of little permanent value.

48 Preliminary estimates placed the cost of an air facility comparable to the one at Thule at some $300,000,000 over a six-year period. A more modest project, based on the absence of current military operational needs, should at least halve that figure, but the same lack of immediate military importance makes even the lesser appropriation very unlikely, barring a drastic change in the temper of the Congress. Also there appears to be some dissatisfaction among Navy planners with even the current expenditure of funds, trained personnel and equipment in the Antarctic because of the growing urgency of Arctic operations and research. Truly combined programs, fitted out with sufficient aircraft and fast nuclear ships—and operating in the Arctic from May to September, the Antarctic from October to March—would give year-round action to personnel and ships and kRep U. S. interests protected at both Poles.

49 Reproduced in U. S. National Archives, Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the United States Antarctic Service (Record Group 126), Washington: Preliminary Inventories No. 90, 1955, pp. 15-18.

50 Par. 6f, ibid., p. 17.

51 A training exercise in Polar combat set in the Antarctic in order to avoid any show of force in the more sensitive Arctic.

52 Walter, Sullivan, ‘ ‘ Antarctica in a Two-Power World,'’ 36 Foreign Affairs 154- 166 (1957)Google Scholar; L. M. Gould, op. cit. 30. For a general description of the problems and adventures, including unusual maps, see “Compelling Continent,” Time, Dec. 31, 1956, pp. 12-17.

53 S. 2189, introduced on a bipartisan basis by Sen. Alexander Wiley of Wisconsin and 22 co-sponsors on May 31, 1957. It would create an autonomous Antarctic agency (likened to the Atomic Energy Commission) to: (a) maintain an information depository, (b) conduct laboratory and field work, (c) assist or advise in the establishment of U. S. territorial claims, (d) supervise all expeditions and activities in the Antarctic under U. S. auspices, and (e) issue required publications. Cong. Bee, Senate, May 31, 1957, pp. 7269-7274. Rep. Clair Engle of California introduced a similar bill on Aug. 7, 1957.

54 For the Administration's official policy, see part IV (4) “The Polar Areas,” of the statement by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, June 6, 1958, “ The Challenge of Change,” 38 Dept. of State Bulletin 1035 at 1038 (1958).

55 For example, Prof. Charles Rousseau of the Faculty of Law, Paris, gave a series of three lectures at the Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva, April 28-30, 1958; his topic, “ L e statut international des espaces polaires.“

56 For example, see ‘ ‘ Men against Danger in Antarctica,'’ Weekly News Review (Washington), Feb. 17, 1958, pp. 1-5, 8, maps; almost identical article in American Observer (Washington), Feb. 17, 1958.

57 Assimilation to the status of territory of the drifting pack ice is not brought into question, since here there is no real difficulty in applying the rules of the high seas stemming from the principle res communis omnium.

58 See the excellent claims map, including specific indications of U. S. and other states’ explorations in the whole region, appended to Adm. Byrd's Antarctica, the Last Frontier, fiscal year 1956 Annual Report of the Officer in Charge, Antarctic Programs (Washington: GPO, 1957, H. M. Dater, ed.).

59 See note from the U. S. Ambassador in Moscow to the Soviet Foreign Ministry, dated July 31, 1958, requesting talks on “methods of inspecting against surprise attack.” Text in 39 Dept. of State Bulletin 278 (1958).

60 The U. S. Senate passed a joint resolution July 31, 1958, calling for a permanent U.N. force. On Aug. 1 the Rio de Janeiro meeting of the Interparliamentary Union voted 371 to 104 (plus 50 abstentions) in favor of a resolution urging the establishment on a permanent basis of an international police force. Among those opposed were the delegates from the Soviet bloc and Yugoslavia. See the article by Sir Leslie Munro, “The Case for a Standing U.N. Army,” New York Times Magazine, July 27, 1958, pp. 8, 27; extension of his general proposal to the technique of aerial patrols and to permanent administration of a zone prior to an “emergency” e.g., the Arctic and the Antarctic) seems not unreasonable.