An Honorable Accord: The Covenant between the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States

An Honorable Accord: The Covenant between the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States, by Howard P Willens and Deanne C Siemer. Pacific Islands Monograph Series 18. Honolulu: Center for Pacific Islands Studies and University of Hawai'i Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8248-2390-7; xvi + 473 pages, tables, maps, photographs, interviews, abbreviations, notes, bibliography, index. Cloth, us$52.00.

An Honorable Accord is a valuable contribution to the historical record of events related to execution and implementation of the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America.

The authors, Howard P Willens and Deanne C Siemer, a husband-and-wife team and highly regarded Washington DC attorneys, are remarkably well qualified to tell the story. Willens headed the counsel team for the Northern Marianas negotiators from late in 1972. through execution of the covenant in a ceremony at Mt Carmel High School on Saipan on 15 February 1975, and a 24 March 1976 ceremony in the East Room of the White House when President Gerald Ford signed the Joint Resolution of the United States Congress approving the covenant.

Since that time, Willens and Siemer have played a role in events related to implementation of the covenant. They worked together in serving as counsel for the First and Third Marianas Constitutional Conventions, in 1976 and 1995-96, respectively. Both are quite knowledgeable about the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and its relationship with the United States, and they have previously coauthored writings on those topics.

This book is not merely a reflection of the authors' own personal recollections and their private review of notes, pertinent documents, and records. They have supplemented these sources with perspectives of some 136 others by conducting taped interviews. They also instituted Freedom of Information litigation to obtain access to additional background information from US agencies.

The authors point to the compact as the only instance in US history in which a people ever joined the United States voluntarily, on terms they had negotiated themselves (343).

From a Micronesian point of view, the covenant was pivotal. Negotiation and execution of the covenant were the most important set of events in Micronesia during the second half of the twentieth century, for these actions had lasting effect on...