376 J.-A. PEMBERTON
A large American loan to China had been made party to help in stabilis-
ing China’s fast depreciating currency and a similar British loan was being
negotiated. Substantial American forces had reinforced Australia and had
begun to drive the Japanese slowly from New Guinea and the Solomon
Islands. After many difficulties the enormous industrial machine of the
United States had been switched over substantially to an all-out war pro-
gram and American troops in large numbers were going into action on
several battle fronts—most notably and dramatically in North Africa.
Most important of all, the Soviet Union, though neutral in the Pacific
theatre of war, was still delivering by far the heaviest blows against the
major Axis power and was beginning its astonishing counter-drive to expel
the German armies from Stalingrad and the Caucasus.^96In what was a significant departure from previous practice, the IPR
invited those occupying roles in government to participate in the dis-
cussions at the conference, albeit only in a personal capacity. Although
the IPR had always emphasised its unofficial character, it felt it necessary
to take this step because so many experts in the field of Pacific prob-
lems, among them numerous IPR members, were now serving in gov-
ernment positions and because a serious and informed discussion of such
matters as cooperation of among Allied powers in the Pacific demanded
expert guidance.^97 Akami notes that almost half of the representatives at
the 1942 conference served in government, whether in the military, the
diplomatic corps, the civil service, or legislature. She further notes that
the IPR’s 1942 conference and the IPR’s 1945 conference, functioned
as ‘Allied policy forums’ and that governments regarded it as important
to send representatives to them.^98 The presence of governmental figures
at the 1942 conference explains why it was conducted entirely in private
and why the press, as had also been the case at the IPR’s 1939 confer-
ence, were not invited. In keeping with previous IPR practice, the iden-
tity of the speakers was not revealed in the reports of the discussions.^99
In light of the Declaration of the United Nations in January 1942
and, indeed, the formation of the very concept of the United Nations,
the main themes of the conference were as follows:
(^96) Ibid., 1–2.
(^97) Ibid., vi, and ‘The Memoirs of William L. Holland,’ in Hooper, ed., Remembering the
Institute of Pacific Relations, 38.
(^98) Akami, Internationalizing the Pacific, 258.
(^99) Institute of Pacific Relations, War and Peace in the Pacific, viii. See also Akami,
Internationalizing the Pacific, 258.