ABSTRACT
The story of international law's role in the decision to invade Grenada ends on the morning of October 25, 1983 — with the closing words of the President's White House press conference. By then, the administration's die had been cast. Operation "Urgent Fury" had begun and Ronald W. Reagan had publicly acknowledged US participation in the collective operation. Allan Gerson had assumed until then that Jeane Kirkpatrick's speech would be "big on facts and little on the law" — that it would be consistent with the line of argument already suggested in earlier White House statements. Gerson's views notwithstanding, the State Department strongly opposed the "self-defense" rationale, fearing such an argument would send the wrong international message. Hence, Gerson was "instructed" to limit the USUN's legal justification to "protection of nationals" grounds. To facilitate Gerson's efforts, Michael Kozak over the next several hours transmitted facsimiles of relevant information from Foggy Bottom to the UN Mission in New York.
