The Fourth Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum

WELCOMING REMARKS

March 5 , 2000

Charles B. Doleac

Good afternoon, good afternoon. Welcome everyone to the fourth Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum held at the City Hall of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the fourth of a series of forums to explore the meaning of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty of 1904-1905, to understand the meaning of the spirit of that treaty, the current relationship between Russia and Japan, and to explore the meaning of the spirit of that treaty for purposes of the history of diplomacy and the future use of multi-track and two-track diplomacy in the next century.

There is a very distinguished panel today, all of whom will be speaking. And we are going to try, as we promised everyone who is participating here today, to take a lot of questions.

Two people will speak and then we will break for questions, then two more, we will break for questions again, and then the last two, and we will break for questions again.

In 1905, Portsmouth was the place for 30 days where the Russians and Japanese negotiated the peace ending the Russo-Japanese War. The host of that treaty was the City of Portsmouth, the governor of New Hampshire and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Here to welcome us again on behalf of the City of Portsmouth is its former mayor, Eileen Foley

Mayor Eileen Foley

Thank you very much, Chuck. Friends, good afternoon and welcome to Portsmouth. As the former mayor and as the good will ambassador for Portsmouth, I am very, very pleased to be here again this afternoon.

Portsmouth has recently ended the celebration of 375 years of being a dot on the global view. We are a lovely seaport city who values background, good background, and her traditions. And then when president Teddy Roosevelt selected this city as the site for the Russian-Japanese Peace Treaty negotiations, we suddenly at that time received global recognition and became a celebrity status.

Today Portsmouth looks at the negotiations of the 1905 Peace Treaty as a very, very important part of our history and our tradition. We hope to keep the light of further learning concerning this part of our history. We want it to burn brightly this afternoon and many, many more afternoons to come.

Portsmouth welcomes our visiting guest speakers, our history buffs, our visiting friends, our own friends, and our students. This will be an outstanding afternoon of learning. Welcome to all. With love, from the City of Portsmouth. Thank you.