THE UNITED STATES is dedicated to the principle that the vast uninhabited wastes of Antarctica shall be used only for peaceful purposes. We do not want Antarctica to become an object of political conflict. Accordingly, the United States has invited eleven other countries, including the Soviet Union, to confer with us to seek an effective joint means of achieving this objective.
We propose that Antarctica shall be open to all nations to conduct scientific or other peaceful activities there. We also propose that joint administrative arrangements be worked out to ensure the successful accomplishment of these and other peaceful purposes.
The countries which have been invited to confer are those which have engaged in scientific activities in Antarctica over the past nine months in connection with the International Geophysical Year. I know of no instance in which international cooperation has been more successfully demonstrated. However, the International Geophysical Year terminates on December 31, 1958. Our proposal is directed at insuring that this same kind of cooperation for the benefit of all mankind shall be perpetuated after that date.
I am confident that our proposal will win the wholehearted support of the peoples of all the nations directly concerned, and indeed of all other peoples of the world.
Note: The text of the note delivered to the Governments of the eleven nations participating in the International Geophysical Year activities in Antarctica is published in the Department of State Bulletin (vol. 38, p. 911 ).
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Statement by the President Concerning Antarctica. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/234756