Materials are arranged in the order created during the interview process with the first file containing administrative materials created before, during, and after the interview.
Accession No. PA.2000.0038: Alan Neidle, 2000 July
[identification of item], Alan Neidle Oral History, SPEC.PA.56.0061, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Archival Program, Ohio State University
Contains audiocassettes.
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Processed by: Audrey Wimbiscus, 2020 March; Finding aid written by: Audrey Wimbiscus, Sam Devereaux, 2020 September
Alan Frederick Neidle (1929-2010) received a Bachelor of Arts from Yale College in 1950, and served as a Lieutenant in the United States Army from 1950-1953, during the Korean War. In 1956, Neidle earned a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Michigan. Neidle was hired by the United States Department of State to serve on its legal staff within the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs by 1957. Within his first year, Neidle negotiated on two international treaties. Because the Cold War was ongoing during this time, the United States wanted to define the role of the Russians in Antarctica. In 1958, Neidle was chosen by Marjorie Whiteman, an international lawyer and his boss at the time, to join Ambassador Paul Daniels as a legal advisor in Antarctic negotiations. Between 1958-1959, more than 60 meetings took place in the National Academy of Sciences in Washington D.C. between representatives of each of the 12 countries that had been active in Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year from 1957-1958. At Ambassador Daniels’ request, Neidle drafted the proposed treaty. The first sentence of Neidle’s draft remained in the final copy, which was signed in 1959, and went into effect in 1961. Among other provisions, the Antarctic Treaty banned nuclear testing and storage of radioactive waste in Antarctica, and ensured international access to the entire continent for scientific investigation and research. Neidle’s initial sentence in the Antarctic Treaty was also used in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. Neidle continued working for the US State Department until 1981. After that, he taught in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas for several years before his death in 2010.
The Alan Neidle Oral History, dated 2000 to 2001, contains audio recordings, administrative information, and transcripts of the interview between Neidle and Brian Shoemaker of the American Polar Society conducted on July 19, 2000. This interview was a part of a series of polar oral histories sponsored by the American Polar Society and Ohio State University's Byrd Polar Research Center Archival Program, with funding from the National Science Foundation. Major topics discussed include Neidle's legal advising role in creating the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, treaty negotiations, and the impact of the Treaty in the time since its creation.