Historical background
Introduction
Beginning as many as 3,500 years ago, people began to settle the islands within the Marshall Islands, Palau, Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Yap, and Marianas archipelagos. For the next several thousand years, inhabitants of these islands established complex social systems and languages, as well as rich cultures of navigation and wayfinding. When explorer Ferdinand Magellan landed on the island of Guåhan in 1521, he sparked an era of foreign occupation by Spain, Germany, Japan, and the United States which persists into the present day. Although these islands are often lumped together under the umbrella term “Micronesia,” their populations are historically diverse and do not exhibit a singular cultural or political identity. Even in the face of foreign occupation and colonization, islanders have maintained vital aspects of their unique cultures.
The United Nations Trust Territory System
When World War II ended in 1945, the United Nations granted the United States administrative authority over the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. This Trust Territory, which since World War I had been occupied by Japan as the South Seas Mandate, was comprised of more than 2,000 islands and several archipelagoes with distinct cultural and political histories. Today, the political units included in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands are known as the countries of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of Palau, and Federated States of Micronesia (consisting of Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap), as well as the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (whose largest inhabited islands include Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and Guguan).
There were eleven total Trust Territories overseen by the United Nations, including New Guinea/Papua New Guinea (Australian administration), Nauru (Australian administration), Ruanda-Urundi (Belgian administration), Western Samoa (New Zealand administration), Tanganyika (British administration), Cameroons (French administration), Cameroons (British administration), Somaliland (Italian administration), Togoland (French administration), Togoland (British administration), and the Pacific Islands (U.S. administration). The purpose of the Trust Territory system was to support political, economic, social, and educational development in places previously colonized by the “enemy powers” in World War II.
The United States was tasked with administering the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, which included creating and running a government, establishing schools and local law enforcement, and conducting all aspects of international relations for the many islands. In addition to being the only Trust Territory of the United States, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was unique in that it was classified as a “strategic” trust. This “strategic” focus reflected the perspective of the United Nations that the islands held particular importance for international security and stability due to their geographic position between the United States and the Soviet Union, whose geopolitical rivalry continues to the present day. Because the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was viewed as strategic, the United Nations granted the United States administration a higher level of discretion in administering the islands. As a result, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was largely overlooked by the international community, which the United States took advantage of: from testing nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands, to uprooting Japanese-built infrastructure, to encouraging economic dependence on U.S. aid, the United States generally neglected its Trusteeship obligations to advance its own national interests.
Articulating a Future Political Status for the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
In 1964, the U.S. administration agreed to establish a local legislature in the Trust Territory called the Congress of Micronesia. This was in part a response to intensifying pressure from other United Nations member countries to pursue decolonization by granting Trust Territories the right to vote on their preferred future political status. Initially, the U.S. expected the Congress of Micronesia to be an extension of American interests; however, the Congress viewed itself and its role much differently, and began to vocalize its desire for self-determination during the first Congress session in July 1965.
Just one month after the Congress of Micronesia met for the first time, Senators Hiram Fong and Daniel Inouye from the state of Hawaiʻi introduced the Pacific State Proposal, which would annex the entire Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands into the state of Hawaiʻi. From its inception, this was a very audacious proposal given that the Trust Territory islands were several thousand miles away from Hawaiʻi and even further from the continental United States.
Senator Fong, the most active proponent of the Pacific State Proposal, championed the proposal as a way to protect islander rights such as representation in the U.S. Congress, a vote in presidential elections, and access to federal welfare programs, all of which had been denied during the Trust Territory period. Having served in the territorial legislature of Hawaiʻi for years prior to statehood in 1959, Senator Fong wanted to prevent Trust Territory residents from remaining in a similar state of precarity. With the Pacific State Proposal occurring amidst Cold War antagonism between the United States and Soviet Union, Senator Fong was also likely motivated by the desire to preserve U.S. access to the strategically located islands, and to enlarge the state of Hawaiʻi’s economic resources.
Responses to the Pacific State Proposal
Responses to the Pacific State Proposal varied widely, ranging from vehement support to outraged opposition. Hawaiʻi constituents were especially divided, with some charging that annexation would create an undue economic burden on Hawaiʻi and others celebrating the idea of an even larger state. There was limited support for the proposal within the U.S. Congress, where legislators from current or former unincorporated territories (i.e., Alaska and the Virgin Islands) agreed with senator Fong that annexation would extend Constitutional rights and protections to Trust Territory residents. Most revealing is the lack of response from members of the Congress of Micronesia, whose support would have been necessary to advance Senator Fong’s proposal. Although Fong mailed a copy of the Pacific State Proposal to thirty members of the Congress of Micronesia asking for their feedback, only two Congressmen responded: Benjamin Manglona of the Northern Marianas Islands, who adamantly supported the proposal, and Dwight Heine, who politely declined to support the proposal but agreed that the future political status of the Trust Territory should be formally considered.
Implications of the Pacific State Proposal
Although the Pacific State Proposal was ultimately unsuccessful, it nevertheless prompted conversations about the future of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands from a variety of sources. Some of these perspectives, which were often in disagreement with one another, are evident in the primary source collection. Despite differing opinions and its failure to advance into law, the Pacific State Proposal paved way for the establishment of a Future Political Status Commission to continue discussions and negotiations regarding the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands’ political status.
Key Vocabulary
Affinity: Affinity refers to a type of relationship that emerges out of a shared connection; for example, graduates of Kamehameha High School might share an affinity with one another even if they never met during high school; similarly, a person from Guam might exhibit an affinity with a person from Okinawa based on their shared experiences of living near a U.S. military base even though the places are different.
Annexation: In international law, annexation generally refers to one country occupying an external territory and claiming it as its own. Annexation is typically achieved through military force; however, the 1965 Pacific State Proposal would have required residents of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and the state of Hawaiʻi to vote on annexation.
Appropriation: Appropriation refers to the act of claiming something as one’s own without the permission of the original owner. We sometimes hear the term “cultural appropriation,” which most often describes a member of a dominant culture or group capitalizing on cultural elements of an oppressed group without permission.
Compact of Free Association (COFA): The Compacts of Free Association are a set of international agreements between the United States and the three independent countries that emerged from the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands: the Republic of Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The details of each agreement differ slightly, but each agreement grants the United States sole military and defense authority in the region, meaning that the United States can take large chunks of the islands for its military use; none of the COFA countries has their own military. In exchange for these defense rights, the United States grants residents of Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia the right to live and work in the U.S. without a visa, and provides limited economic assistance to each country.
Congress of Micronesia: Founded in 1965, the Congress of Micronesia was the local legislature in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and consisted of elected officials from the Trust Territory. When the United States administration created the Congress of Micronesia, it expected the Congress to be an extension of U.S. interests; however, the Congress of Micronesia became an important vehicle for self-determination.
Decolonization: Decolonization is an umbrella term for a variety of practices that, together, work to remove colonial influence from a place. Formal political decolonization, which the United Nations aims to support, refers to the legal resolution of a colonial status, for example by obtaining independence from a colonial government or voting to become a state within a larger political entity. While this primary source collection focuses on formal political decolonization, it is important to understand that decolonization can also be cultural (by removing the influence of colonial institutions on an Indigenous culture) or economic (eliminating economic dependence on a colonial power).
Future Political Status Negotiations: In 1969, the Congress of Micronesia officially entered into future political status negotiations with the United States. The ultimate goal of the future political status negotiations was for the Congress of Micronesia and the United States to agree on ending the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. This became a process of defining and negotiating whether the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands would become an independent country, state or territory of the United States, or enter into any other political relationship with the United States. Ultimately, the Congress of Micronesia fractured, and the Trust Territory ended with Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia each becoming independent countries, and the Northern Mariana Islands becoming an unincorporated commonwealth of the United States.
Imperialism: Imperialism occurs when one political entity asserts formal or informal power over another political entity, often in the form of economic dominance or military force. Imperialism is also usually characterized by hierarchical citizenship statuses, or some citizens receiving more rights and privileges than others based on race, sex, identity, or geographical location.
Incorporated Territory: This refers to the political status of some island territories belonging to the United States. Incorporated territories are protected by the U.S. Constitution and have locally elected legislative bodies, but those representatives do not have voting rights in Congress. Residents of insular territories also cannot vote in Presidential elections. As such, residents of incorporated territories have fewer rights than those granted to residents of states. Usually, incorporated territories are on a path to eventual statehood, as was the case with Hawaiʻi in 1959. Today, the only incorporated territory in the United States is the uninhabited Palmyra Atoll.
Micronesia: This term was originally coined by French explorer Dumont D’Urville to refer to islands in the northwest Pacific Ocean; the term emphasizes D’Urville’s perspective that the islands are “micro,” or small, although this perspective differs from the islanders who live in the region. Typically, the term Micronesia is used to refer to a geographic region comprised of the Northern Mariana, Caroline, Marshall, and Gilbert Islands, as well as Nauru. Note that Micronesia is a broad geographic term distinct from the country of the Federated States of Micronesia.
Self-determination: In a political sense, self-determination refers to an entity’s ability to determine its own political future. In the case of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, we can think of the future political status negotiations as an exercise in self-determination during which the Congress of Micronesia worked to define the Trust Territory’s future. It is important to note that self-determination sometimes, but not always, involves transitioning to independence from a colonial or imperial power.
South Sea Mandate Islands: Under a post-World War I League of Nations arrangement, Japan administered the South Sea Mandate Islands, a region in Micronesia consisting of what are today the Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Throughout this period, many Japanese and Okinawan civilians moved into the Mandate Islands, and largescale infrastructure development also occurred.
Trust Territory: The United Nations created a Trust Territory system to oversee the governance and development of colonies formerly held by enemy powers in World War II. The underpinning goal of the Trust Territory system was to facilitate eventual self-determination of colonized places.
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands: After Japan’s defeat in World War II, the United Nations granted authority over its South Sea Mandate Islands to the United States. The goal of the Trust Territory was to support the islands’ political, economic, and educational development. However, the United States largely neglected these goals and has been extensively criticized for failing to meet its Trust Territory obligations.
Trustee: Trustee refers to the administering power of a Trust Territory, who was responsible for developing political, economic, social, and educational systems in the Trust Territory they oversaw. The United States was the Trustee of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
Unincorporated Territory: Unincorporated territories are also island territories of the United States, but residents have fewer Constitutional protections than those of states or incorporated territories. Unincorporated territories are usually not given a clear path to statehood. Today, the inhabited unincorporated territories of the United States include American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam.
United Nations: The United Nations is an international institution founded in 1945 as part of post-World War II recovery efforts. The United Nations brings together representatives from countries across the world, and its main mission is to facilitate international peace, security, and cooperation between countries.