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Reorganization of the State Department

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2021

Denys P. Myers  and
Charles F. Ransom
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Type
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American Journal of International Law , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , October 1937 , pp. 713 - 720
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1937 

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References

1 Due to the appointment by the President of William Phillips as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Italy on Aug. 4, 1936.

2 The Act of Aug. 5, 1909 (36 Stat, at L. 119) authorized such a post “for the advancement of commercial and other interests.”

3 Two other Assistant Secretaries were appointed July 1, 1924.

4 Register of the Department of State, Jan. 1,1936, 311. The new designation was first by Sec. 1 of the Act of March 1,1919 (40 Stat, at L. 1224), and then by Act of Jan. 3, 1923 (42 Stat, at L. 1068) which reduced two potential offices to that of Under Secretary of State.

5 Pub. No. 91, 75th Cong. The bill was S. 2160, submitted to the respective bodies of Congress by S. Eept. 352 and H. Rept. 694, 75th Cong.

6 On these temporary incumbencies, see, Miller, Hunter, Treaties and other International Acts of the United States of America, I (short print), 192–8.

7 The Legal Adviser, formerly the Solicitor, was designated by the present title in the Act of Feb. 23,1931(46 Stat, at L., pt. 1,1214). For the duties see Press Releases, VI, 482 (May 14, 1932).

8 Press Releases, XVII, 3, release of June 29,1937.

9 Press Releasee, XVII, 51, 143.

10 Idem, XVII, 52.

11 Idem, June 6, 1931, 444.

12 Press Releases, XVII, June 3,1933, 416.

13 Department of State, Conference Series, Nos. 13,17, 20, 23, 30 (Publications Nos. 425, 519, 690, 854, 1014).

14 Of these 45 were exclusively official, seven of official and unofficial representatives, and 23 of exclusively private or technical character.

15 Press Releases, XIII, 143. The extension of Mr. Carr's service was publicly announced. In commemoration of his completion of 40 years in the Department, he was presented a unique testimonial signed by over a thousand members of the Foreign Service who had served under him.

16 Sec. 5; U. S. Code, Title 22, §5.

17 Congress, while requiring detailed estimates for the salaries of all State Department employees, authorizes the Secretary of State to prescribe their duties and to make changes and transfers in the Department (U. S. Code, Title 5, Sees. 157, 154).

18 Departmental Order No. 686, Department of State Press Releases, XVI, 355; released May 21, 1937, n.d.

19 Departmental Orders No. 691 and No. 692, idem, 442; released June 15,1935, and so dated.

20 Register of the Department of State, July 1, 1936, 10.

The geographical divisions are mentioned only twice in legislation in force:

Title 5, Sec. 157, of the Code, dating from the time when the Division of Far Eastern Affairs was the only geographical division in existence, specifies "the maintenance of a division of far eastern affairs" as one of the purposes for which detailed estimates are required.

Title 22, Sec. 21a, grants the Chief of the Division of Western European Affairs the right to participate in the Foreign Service retirement and disability fund. This section now needs revision since the abolition of the division of that name.

21 Departmental Order No. 60, July 28, 1915.

22 By Order No. 146, Aug. 13, 1919, the office within the Division of Near Eastern Affairs dealing with affairs of Russia was changed to a separate Division of Russian Affairs; this in turn was transformed into the Division of Eastern European Affairs, with the addition of relations with Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland by Order No. 269, Oct. 10, 1922.

23 Egypt, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and Ethiopia were already in the Near Eastern classification.

24 Cf. the assignment of relations with –Far Eastern possessions and territories of European nations and the foreign-controlled islands of the Pacific not included therein … ” (i.e., the mandated islands) to the Division of Far Eastern Affairs “in conjunction with the Division of Western European Affairs and other interested divisions.” Register of the Department of State, July 1, 1936, 10.

25 The new constitution of India somewhat modifies the control of India by the India Office in London.

26 This formula is reminiscent of the formula for the signature of the Versailles Treaty (and the Washington treaties): the Dominions and India signing as subheads under the British Empire, and at the same time having individual membership in the League of Nations.

27 The adoption of the new Irish constitution ignoring the imperial connection may complicate the accrediting of ministers, but not the geographical division of labor in the Department of State.

28 The new formula is in nicer consonance with the status of the British Commonwealth of Nations as laid down by the resolution of the Imperial Conference in 1926 and by the Statute of Westminster in 1931.