151. Editorial Note
On March 13, 1962, Acting Secretary of State George Ball sent a reply to the January 2 letter of U.N. Acting Secretary-General U Thant to the U.S. Government on U.N. General Assembly Resolution 1664 (XVI). Regarding this resolution, see footnote 2, Document 97. In his letter, Thant had asked for U.S. views “as to the conditions under which countries not possessing nuclear weapons might be willing to enter into specific undertakings to refrain from manufacturing or otherwise acquiring such weapons and to refuse to receive in the future nuclear weapons on their territories on behalf of any other country.”
Ball’s reply divided the question of the proliferation of nuclear weapons into two categories: “(1) the manufacture or ownership of nuclear weapons, and (2) the deployment of nuclear weapons.” Concerning the first, Ball reviewed U.S. legislation precluding the transfer of ownership or control of information about nuclear weapons. This policy, he added, was reflected in the U.S. comprehensive disarmament proposal submitted to the U.N. General Assembly on September 25, 1961, and subsequently incorporated with U.S. “full support” in General Assembly Resolution 1665 (XVI). Regarding the second, Ball emphasized “the firm belief of the United States that the only sure way to remove nuclear weapons, wherever located, from national defense establishments is through realization of a program of general and complete disarmament under effective international control.” The United States, he added, believed that the Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Committee was the proper forum for resolution of this problem.
For text of Ball’s letter, see Documents on Disarmament, 1962, volume I, pages 87-90. Regarding Resolution 1665 (XVI), see footnote 4, Document 83.