Regarding a recent Associated Press article carried by the Press Herald (“Trump suggests he could use military force to take control of Greenland, Panama Canal”), it should be noted that Arctic explorers Robert E. Peary and Charles Francis Hall were the first to explore northwest Greenland and claimed it for the U.S.

Peary opposed relinquishing the claim. Like President Trump, he recognized the country’s mineral wealth and the need to follow the Monroe Doctrine and prevent foreign military bases on the island. The U.S. finally obtained rights to the island under President Franklin D. Roosevelt when it negotiated an agreement on June 7, 1941 (before Pearl Harbor) with Denmark’s ambassador (acting independent of Nazi-occupied Denmark). An article of this treaty gives the U.S. the right to veto future adjustments to it. While the treaty has been modified over the years, that provision remains.

The treaty provides the U.S. with the right to military bases on Greenland. The U.S. has had as many as nine military bases in Greenland, but now has one. And, as President Trump has stated, another president, Democrat Harry Truman, attempted to buy Greenland before settling for additional access to the island for military purposes. The treaty may provide the U.S. rights to use its military in Greenland as it wishes, making press questions to Trump about military involvement in Greenland somewhat moot.

Timothy Michalak
Cumberland