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MINORITIES SECTION
MINORITIES SECTION. From 1935 this was the new name for the Administrative Commissions and Minorities Questions Section. MIXED COMMISSION, TEMPORARY. See TEMPORARY MIXED COMMISSION FOR THE REDUCTION OF ARMAMENTS. MOLOTOV, VYACHESLAV (1890–1986). Molotov succeeded Maxim Litvinov as foreign minister of the Soviet Union in May 1939. He was responsible for the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, which paved the way for Germany’s attack on Poland. MOLOTOV–RIBBENTROP PACT. See GERMAN–SOVIET NON-AGGRESSION PACT. MONETARY AND ECONOMIC CONFERENCE, WORLD. See ECONOMIC CONFERENCE, WORLD. MONNET, JEAN (1888–1979). Monnet had been head of France’s supply organization in London during World War I. He was appointed by Secretary-General Eric Drummond as deputy secretarygeneral when the League still had its headquarters in London (1919). He resigned in 1922. MONROE DOCTRINE. The doctrine was issued in an address to Congress by President James Monroe of the United States on 2 December 1823. Its main purpose was to prevent further colonial and political expansion of the European powers in the western hemisphere. The United States would not accept any intervention by European states, and in return it would not interfere with existing European colonies or dependencies. The doctrine was to become the theoretical basis of American isolationist policy. The United States never accepted an interpretation of the doctrine by others, not even by the League, which had incorporated the doctrine in Article XXI of the Covenant. When in 1928 some countries of Latin America, resenting the predominance of the United States and its interventions, demanded a clear verdict of the Council on the relationship between League membership and the Monroe Doctrine, the Council merely asserted that all League members were equal.