[2] In June 1937 a spat occurred at Canton between USS Avocet and HMS Wellington and their crews.

In response, on 26 July President Roosevelt approved a U.S. Navy plan to occupy Canton,[3] and on 3 March 1938 formally reasserted the United States claim, placing Canton and Enderbury under the control of the Department of the Interior.

[4] Seven U.S. citizens from the American Equatorial Islands Colonization Project landed on Canton on 7 March.

[6] The United States and the United Kingdom relinquished control over the islands to the government of newly independent Kiribati; U.S. personnel left the island on 12 July 1979, the date of Kiribati's independence.

[8] In this treaty, the U.S. acknowledged Kiribati sovereignty over fourteen islands, but reserved the right to military bases.