Expansion of the Publications of the Department of State

Kenneth Colegrove

American Political Science Review, 1929, vol. 23, issue 1, 69-77

Abstract: In all countries, the publications of the foreign office hold a peculiar position among government documents. Statesmen appear to be more reticent in informing the public on foreign relations than in regard to any other governmental function. This reticence seems to obtain in democracies as well as autocracies. There are exceptions, such as post-war Germany and Soviet Russia, where the new governments entered upon a policy of disclosing almost everything in past diplomacy for the purpose of exposing the incompetency of the Hohenzollern and Romanov régimes. But these exceptions are conspicuously few. It is, of course, too much to expect foreign offices to publish all diplomatic correspondence and official reports. Some of these communications concern private persons whose affairs should not be exhibited to public gaze. Other papers contain tentative proposals and counter-proposals made in the course of negotiations, and should not, in fairness to all governments involved, be published at the time. Finally, much of the correspondence is merely routine. Nevertheless, it will probably be generally conceded that in a democracy the people ought to have opportunity for wide information regarding the conduct of foreign relations.In the United States the chief official sources of information include: the President's annual message, Foreign Relations, the Treaty Series, mimeographed press releases, the Register of the Department of State and other lists, and occasional documents issued by the Department of State. It has been the practice of the President to devote a large portion of his annual message to Congress to a resumé of international relations for the year.

Date: 1929
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