TTPI

The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) was the United Nations sanctioned and supervised US administration of islands in Micronesia, which had once been governed by Japan, in the period after World War Two.

After the United States entered World War II in 1941, Micronesia assumed vital importance in the Pacific campaign and bitter fighting took place before the area was secured by U.S. forces. In 1947, the Marshalls, Carolines, Palau, and Mariana Islands, excluding Guam, became a U.N. Trusteeship administered by the United States. For most of its existence, the TTPI was overseen by the United States Department of the Interior.

The TTPI was formed during the USN Period (1945-1947) and existed through the TTPI Period (1947-1979). Today, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia are independent nations in Free Association with the United States. Collectively they are termed the Freely Associated States (FAS).

Area

The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands occupied a vast oceanic zone of the Western Pacific north of the equator. The area contained 96 distinct island units composed of 2,141 individual islands and had a combined land area of approximately 687 square miles. The islands formed three Micronesian groups: the Marshalls, the Carolines, and the Marianas less Guam. The territory, stretching from latitude 1° to 20° north and from longitude 130° to 170° east, covered some 3,000,000 square miles. The distance from Tobi (Hatohobei) Island in the extreme west of the Carolines to Mili Island in the extreme cast of the Marshalls is approximately 2,400 nautical miles or 2,727 statute miles. At its greatest width the area extended 1,300 nautical miles or 1,477 statute miles north and south.

Background

During the progress of the War in the Pacific, the Great Powers among the United Nations reached a series of agreements regarding the future of the Japanese mandated islands. The Cairo Declaration of 1 December 1943, signed by the United States, United Kingdom, and China (the Soviet Union not participating in the Pacific war at that time) stated that: "Japan shall be stripped of all the islands in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since the beginning of the First World War in 1914."

Establishment

This declaration was reaffirmed by the heads of the same three governments (United States, United Kingdom, and China) on 26 July 1945 at Potsdam, and was subsequently adhered to by the Soviet Union. Article 8 of the Potsdam Declaration stated: "The terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out and Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku, and such minor islands as are determined."

Japan accepted these terms by the instrument of surrender on 2 September 1945. The application of the surrender terms to the former Japanese mandates resulted in the United States acquiring responsibility for the administration of these islands. After long and careful consultations by the State, War, and Navy Departments, the United States developed a draft trusteeship agreement proposing to make the former Japanese mandated islands into a strategic area trusteeship to be controlled by it under the United Nations. This draft agreement was made public on 6 November 1946, and copies were circulated to other interested states. The United States submitted the draft trusteeship agreement to the Security Council of the United Nations on 17 February 1947. After deliberation by the Council, the draft agreement was approved unanimously on 2 April 1947, with several minor changes. It became effective on 18 July 1947, when President Truman approved it on behalf of the United States Government.

Dissolution

The United States fulfilled its obligations to "promote the development of the people of the Trust Territory toward self-government or independence, as appropriate, to the particular circumstances of the Trust Territory and the people of the Trust Territory and the freely expressed wishes of the people concerned."

The United States, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands entered into the Compact of Free Association set forth in section 201 of the Compact of Free Association Act of 1985 (48 U.S.C. 1901 note; Public Law 99–239) and the United States and the Republic of Palau entered into the Compact of Free Association set forth in section 201 of Public Law 99–658 (48 U.S.C. 1931 note) to create and maintain a close and mutually beneficial relationship.

Resources

"Illustrative Cases From Military Occupations" was a handbook published in 1944 by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Department of the Navy. The handbook provides brief anecdotes from historical incidents of military, including Micronesia.

The "Handbook of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, 1948", was prepared at the School of Naval Administration, Hoover Institute, Stanford University, and was published by the Navy Department, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.

"A Brief History of Truk" is a portion of a standard welcome, or cover, letter that was provided to visitors and incoming employees set to arrive in Chuuk -at the time still called Truk- during the mid to late 1960s.

Texts Dealing with the TTPI

Bergbauer, Harry W. “A Review of the Political Status of the Trust Territory of the Pacific.” Naval War College Review. Vol. 23. http://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol23/iss3/8.

Gooding, Niles Russell. “The Administration of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, 1945-1962.” http://hdl.handle.net/10945/11562.

Hummel, Arthur W. 1973. “Future Political Status of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Island.” Washington, DC.

“The Pacific Trust: Problems of Independence.” 1972. Memorandum. Langley, VA: Office of National Estimates, Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/cia-rdp79r00967a000500020013-4.

Trumbull, Robert. Paradise in Trust: A Report on Americans in Micronesia, 1946-1958. Accessed April 2, 2024. https://search.worldcat.org/en/title/414762.

Solomon, Anthony M. 1963a. “Solomon Report, Volume 1.” Washington, DC. https://issuu.com/guampedia/docs/solomon_report.

Solomon, Anthony M. 1963b. “Solomon Report, Volume 2.” Washington, DC. https://issuu.com/guampedia/docs/solomon_report.

“Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.” 1967. Memorandum. Langley, VA: Office of National Estimates, Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP79T00826A002400270001-0.pdf