HARDING DEEMS RELEASE OF TREATY RECORDS INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE PUBLIC INTEREST
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On February 20, 1922, President Warren G. Harding "advised the Senate that it was impossible to comply with the Hitchcock resolution asking for the records, minutes and conversations...on the four power treaty drawn up at the armament limitation conference."
The President's letter to the United States Senate claimed requests could not be honored because "no records existed" and "he deemed it incompatible with the public interest."
Senator G.B. Hitchcock* (D-Nebraska), in reaction to the President's statements, said a "veil of secrecy had been thrown about the four-power treaty negotiations."
The President's letter also stated that "there were no concealed understandings and no secret exchanges of notes."
*Gilbert Monell Hitchcock (1859-1934) was born in Omaha, Nebraska & graduated from the University of Michigan Law School 1881. GMH was a member of U.S. House of Representatives 1903-1905, 1907-1911, & U.S. Senate 1911-1923.
SOURCE
"Harding Can't Give Senate Treaty Data," The New York Tribune, February 21, 1922, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
