The London Naval Conference

Report Outline
Five Power Naval Conference of 1930
Preliminary Negotiations Among Naval Powers
Possible Bases of Agreement
Naval Policies of the Powers
Proposals for Hastening Armament Reduction
Prospects of Agreement

Five Power Naval Conference of 1930

President's Farewall to American Delegation

The five-power naval conference of 1930 will be opened on Tuesday, January 21, by King George in the royal gallery of the House of Lords in London. The delegations of the five powers—Great Britain, the United States, Japan, France and Italy—will meet with Prime Minister MacDonald on the day before the opening of the conference to arrange the program of the first meeting, elect a chairman and vice chairman, and nominate the various committees. A “first committee” will be set up, composed of the chief delegates of the five powers, and to this committee will be addressed the reports of all other committees. The first and later plenary sessions of the conference will be held in public, but the discussions of the various committees will be carried on behind closed doors.

The American delegation to the conference sailed from New York on January 9 and is scheduled to arrive in London on January 17. The following delegates were chosen by President Hoover to represent the United States: Secretary of State Stimson, Secretary of the Navy Adams, Ambassadors Dawes, Gibson and Morrow, and Senators Robinson of Arkansas and Reed of Pennsylvania, The delegates were accompanied by seven advisors, a technical staff of eight naval officers, and numerous secretaries, clerks and stenographers, making a total personnel of 68.

After a White House breakfast to the delegates on January 7, President Hoover issued the following public statement: