740.00119 EW/10–2345
Minutes of a Meeting of the Secretaries of State, War, and Navy, October 23, 1945, 10:30 a.m.
| Present: | The Secretary of State |
| The Secretary of War, accompanied by Colonel Charles W. McCarthy | |
| The Secretary of the Navy, accompanied by Lieut. Colonel Correa | |
| Mr. Matthews |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Atomic Energy
Mr. Patterson brought up the question of the channel of negotiations with the British and Canadians. Mr. Byrnes said that the President had spoken to him of the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Attlee but had expressed no views on the nature of the discussions. The President wants Mr. Byrnes and Admiral Leahy8 to be present and it is contemplated that the visit will take place about November 11 or 12. Mr. Byrnes wanted to delay the announcement until November 6 since there would be lots of speculation to the effect that Mr. Attlee was coming over to talk about Palestine. However, he has agreed to Lord Halifax’s proposal to announce the visit on November 1 and to say that it is for the purpose of discussing the atomic bomb.
Mr. Byrnes referred to a visit he had received from Dr. Oppenheimer who thought that Stalin should have been approached with regard to the atomic bomb a month ago and that there should be no [Page 62] delay in discussions. Oppenheimer did, on the contrary, think that legislation on the subject in this country should be delayed. Mr. Byrnes had replied that he thought the pending bill on the whole is a good one, but that possible amendments should be given careful consideration and there should be full study. On the international aspects Mr. Byrnes informed him that while he had great admiration for Dr. Oppenheimer’s scientific attainments, he did not believe that he knew the facts or had the responsibility for the handling of international affairs. He pointed out that the American people had elected Mr. Truman President and that the responsibility is his and Mr. Byrnes’.
Mr. Patterson pointed out that the President’s message to Congress called for sound consultation. The difficulty is that the scientists are restless under any control or restrictions. He thought that he had brought Dr. Oppenheimer back on the track and that the latter now favored the passage of adequate legislation. The scientists with experience in public affairs like Dr. Bush and Dr. Conant are all right. The same is true of the top scientists who have been working on the problem, but the smaller fry partly through earnest conviction and partly through the desire to sound off are restive. They are men who are less stable and in fact do not know what they want in the handling of atomic energy. On the international aspect, however, all the scientists were of one mind that the secret of construction can be kept only for a five to fifteen year period. The only problem is one of industrial capacity for production and he thought that Mr. Stimson’s memorandum of September 11 contained the sound approach. He thought it provided for a broad and gradual development and is based upon good will on both sides and the exchange of information and right of visitation.
Mr. Byrnes agreed that the whole problem of cooperation is predicated on free inspection at all times. He cited the fact that we cannot recognize the Rumanian and Bulgarian regimes because we cannot get information on conditions there and our representatives have difficulty in getting around. If this is true in Rumania and Bulgaria, it is considerably more true in Soviet Russia and he had asked Dr. Oppenheimer whether full inspection under conditions such as he described could be had in the Soviet Union today. Dr. Oppenheimer, he said, finally admitted that this situation was pretty bad. Mr. Patterson said that he wants Mr. Byrnes to make sure that all the facts are understood and then it is up to the State Department to decide what to do about it.
- Fleet Adm. William D. Leahy, Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy.↩