47. Memorandum From the Director of the United States Information Agency (Murrow) to President Kennedy1
All foreign press opinion on the resumption of nuclear testing2 received by this Agency up to 6pm today from countries outside the Sino-Soviet bloc is anti-Soviet.
Highly significant is an editorial in the official Yugoslav Communist newspaper Borba which said: “The Soviet decision to resume nuclear weapons tests could have ‘a disastrous echo.’” The editorial comment in Borba added that the reasons given by Moscow for its decision did not justify it. Borba’s editorial was the first reaction by any official Yugoslav organ to the Soviet decision on the eve of a conference in Belgrade of leaders of 24 non-aligned countries.
[Page 132]Shock, amazement and condemnation were expressed in the editorials. The London Daily Herald called the decision “shocking.” Stockholm Aftonsbladet said the decision was “ruthless, difficult to understand . . .” and the explanations “hypocrisy beyond all boundaries.” Paris Figaro said Khrushchev gave way to “a fit of anger.”
Paris-Jour commented: “Khrushchev has made an announcement whose gravity eclipses all the anxiety spread in the world over the Berlin crisis during the past three weeks.”
In Austria, the Vienna Kurier headlined its accounts: “Horror paralyzes the world.” In Rome, Il Tempo said the decision was a “grave crime against humanity.”
The Melbourne, Australia, Herald says: “The Soviet Union has now made its choice. It prefers research in mass destruction to an agreement that would ease world anxiety.”
No press comment from the Middle East is in our hands as yet. A commentator on Radio Teheran said: “The decision can only mean a sharp increase in danger to world peace.”
Allowing for time differentials, a significant sampling of press opinion from all over the world can be provided by the middle of the day tomorrow, Friday.3
- Source: Kennedy Library, President’s Office Files, Departments and Agencies Series, Box 91, USIA 7/61–12/61. No classification marking. In another memorandum to the President, August 31, Murrow outlined several considerations regarding a possible U.S. resumption of nuclear testing, stating: “What is now to be tested is not so much nuclear devices as the will of free men to remain free.” Murrow’s memorandum is printed in Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, vol. VII, Arms Control and Disarmament, Document 59 and ibid., vol. XXV, Organization of Foreign Policy; Information Policy; United Nations; Scientific Matters, Document 130.↩
- During a TASS broadcast at 7 p.m. EDT on August 30, the Soviet Union announced the resumption of nuclear tests beginning on September 1; see Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, vol. V, Soviet Union, Document 114 and ibid., vol. VII, Arms Control and Disarmament, Document 58.↩
- In a September 1 memorandum to the President, Murrow wrote: “World press reaction to the Soviet nuclear decision remained about as I reported last evening, critical of the Soviet decision.” He noted that USIA had received “some comment from uncommitted areas which, after criticizing the Soviet decision, suggests that the United States will probably announce a resumption of testing soon and that, too, will be a very bad thing. Time continues to work for us.” Murrow attached a copy of Research Note 24–61, September 1, “Initial Worldwide Reactions to the Soviet Nuclear Test Announcement,” to his memorandum. (Kennedy Library, President’s Office Files, Departments and Agencies Series, Box 91, USIA 7/61–12/61) In response to the Soviet announcement, Macmillan and Kennedy proposed a ban on nuclear weapons tests; for the text of the joint U.K.–U.S. statement, released on September 3, see Public Papers: Kennedy, 1961, p. 587. On September 5, the White House released a statement by the President stating that he had, as of September 5, ordered the resumption of U.S. nuclear tests in laboratories and underground, with no fallout. For the text, see ibid., p. 589–590.↩