BRYAN TREATIES
Beginning in 1913, U.S. Secretary of State WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN negotiated a number of bilateral treaties for the “Advancement of Peace.” The basic aim of these bilateral treaties was to prevent war by interjecting a conciliation process into a dispute between parties to the
treaty. Each signatory nominated two members,
one a national and one a foreign citizen, to a
permanent commission. These four would then
choose a fifth member who could not be a
national of either state. The commission would
review the underlying facts to the dispute and
issue a report on the controversy within one
year. Until the report was issued the parties
agreed to refrain from resorting to hostilities. It
was hoped that this process and the inherent
delay in issuing a report would lessen tension
and preclude resort to armed force to settle the
dispute, although each was free to do so after the
report was issued. Eventually forty-eight of these
treaties were concluded, but few disputes were
ever submitted to any of the commissions.
