Stimson Doctrine

Named after Henry L. Stimson, United States Secretary of State in the Hoover Administration (1929-1933), the policy followed Japan's unilateral seizure of Manchuria in north-eastern China following action by Japanese soldiers at Mukden (now Shenyang), on September 18, 1931.

The policy was subsequently incorporated in several international declarations, including a League of Nations Assembly resolution of March 11 1932, the Inter-American Pact of Rio de Janeiro (October 10, 1933) and the Budapest Articles of Interpretation (September 10, 1934) of the August 1928 Pact of Paris (Kellogg-Briand Pact). The principles of this doctrine were also used in the US Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles' declaration of July 23, 1940, on the non-recognition policy of the Soviet annexation and incorporation of three Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. These principles were strongly pursued until the restoration of independence of the Baltic States in August 1991.