f the executive agreement
device took the form of an exchange of notes on November 16, 1933 with
Maxim M. Litvinov, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, whereby
American recognition was extended to the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics in consideration of certain pledges, the first of which was
the promise to restrain any persons or organizations "under its direct
or indirect control, * * *, from any act overt or covert liable in any
way whatsoever to injure the tranquillity, prosperity, order, or
security of the whole or any part of the United States, * * *"[239]

United States _v._ Belmont

The Litvinov Agreement is also noteworthy for giving rise to two cases
which afforded the Court the opportunity to evaluate the executive
agreement in terms of Constitutional Law. The earlier of these was
United States _v._ Belmont,[240] decided in 1937. The point at issue was
whether a district court of the United States was free to dismiss an
action by the United States, as assignee of the Soviet government, for
certain moneys which were once the property of a Russian metal
corporation whose assets had been appropriated by the Soviet government.
The Court, speaking by Justice Sutherland, said "No." The President's
act in recognizing the Soviet government, and the accompanying
agreements, constituted, said the Justice, an international compact
which the President, "as the sole organ" of international relations for
the United States, was authorized to enter upon without consulting the
Senate. Nor did State laws and policies make any difference in such a
situation; for while the supremacy of treaties is established by the
Constitution in express terms, yet the same rule holds "in the case of
all international compacts and agreements from the very fact that
complete power over international affairs is in the National Government
and is not and cannot be subject to any curtailment or interference on
the part of the several States."[241]

United States _v._ Pink; National Supremacy

In the United States _v._ Pink,[242] decided five years later, the same
course of reasoning was reiterated with added emphasis. The question
here involved was whether the United States was entitled under the
Executive Agreement of 1933 to recover the assets of the New York branch
of a Russian insurance company. The company argued that the decrees of
confiscation of the Soviet Government did not apply to its property in
New York, and could not co