A Report from the Secretary of State

On November 18, 1943, the Senate proceeded to the House chamber to witness a unique event For the first time in history, a member of the president’s cabinet addressed a joint meeting of Congress. The speaker was Secretary of State Cordell Hull Secretary Hull had just returned from a major conference of foreign ministers in Moscow The first Allied three-power meeting of World War II, that conference brought together representatives of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union to plan military and diplomatic strategy Soviet leader Joseph Stalin pledged that after Germany’s defeat, Russia would enter the war against Japan. Secretary Hull reported that the conference had established a European Advisory Commission to develop a post-war policy for Germany. Most significantly, the secretary noted, the conference recognized the "necessity of establishing at the earliest practicable date a general international organization, based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all peace-loving states, and open to membership by all such states, large and small, for the maintenance of international peace and security "

Members, happily receiving this optimistic message, repeatedly interrupted the secretary with cheers and shouts He assured his audience that Stalin would not deal separately with the Germans and would not abstain from an Allied peace-keeping coalition. Secretary Hull’s assessment of Stalin as "one of the great statesmen and leaders of this age" triggered prolonged applause Following this address, Senate Republican leaders, in a spirit of bipartisan foreign policy cooperation, agreed that the forthcoming 1944 election campaigns should be confined to domestic policy issues As senators left the chamber, some speculated that this address by a cabinet secretary heralded a new era of legislative-executive consultation and harmony.