Paper short abstract:

Contrary to later official recollections, until the US changed its course and earnestly engaged in the Antarctic Treaty talks, the UK played a precursory role in presenting the internationalisation of Antarctica as a solution for both its colonial heritage and Cold War challenges.

Paper long abstract:

In 1970 Paul Daniel, former special adviser on Antarctica to State Secretary Dulles, ascribed to the US Government the initiative of calling countries active in Polar research during the International Geophysical Year to verify the possibility of an international agreement on Antarctica. Contrary to such claims, the analysis of the decision-making process in Whitehall shows a different picture. Confronted with the urgings of a spendthrift Treasury, the departments more directly involved - namely the Lord President of the Council for science policy and the Foreign Office – early developed the idea of making the most of scientific internationalism to solve three interconnected issues. In the domestic realm, finding a way out from the competing scientific agendas of biologist Colin Bertram, director of the Scott Polar Institute, and geologist James Wordie, former director of the Scott institute and influent member of the British National Committee to the IGY, both being able to appeal to political discourse of national prestige and interest to attract money. At the international level, the older issue of supporting by Antarctic scientific activities a British territorial claim which overlapped with the ones by Argentina and Chile was now compounded with the anxiety for Soviet presence in Antarctica and possible reactions by the US. An international administrative authority, which would freeze the status quo and guarantee the prosecution of scientific cooperation, could let the UK to save money and a measure of control on Soviet activities, while avoiding the extension of the Cold War to the Southern Continent.