The Kellogg-Briand Pact signed in 1928 was an international agreement not to use war as an instrument of national policy. It was conceived by Aristide Briand, who hoped to engage the United States in a system of protective alliances to guard against aggression from a resurgent Germany. The U.S. secretary of state, Frank Kellogg, proposed a general multilateral treaty, and the French agreed. Most states signed the treaty, but its lack of enforceability and exceptions to its pacifist pledges rendered it useless.