Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, 1945, General: Political and Economic Matters, Volume II

Lot 55D 540 Box 266

The Secretary of the Navy (Forrestal) to the Secretary of State

Washington, 11 December 1945.

My Dear Mr. Secretary: I have just seen for the first time the paper^44c which is proposed as a basis for your forthcoming conversations with the U. S. S. R. concerning the proposal for the creation of an Atomic Energy Commission within the United Nations Organization.

I feel most strongly that the proposed basis of discussion goes too far. I believe that there should be no discussion of proposals as to the specific kinds and types of information in this field to be made available by this country to other Nations until a procedure for the exchange of such information has been worked out that will guarantee genuine reciprocity in such exchanges.

Specifically I recommend that the basis of discussion in the forthcoming conversations be confined to that indicated in the enclosed revision of the proposed paper.^44d This revision, you will note, deals wholly with the establishment of the proposed Atomic Energy Commission of the United Nations Organization in connection with the plan annunciated by President Truman and Prime Minister Attlee in their recent declaration.

Sincerely yours,

James Forrestal

1. Memorandum of December 10, p. 92.

2. Enclosure not printed; Secretary Forrestal’s alternative draft included the following changes:

   The final sentence of the second paragraph (p. 92) was revised to read: “… conversations with the Soviet Government with respect to methods of promoting international cooperation in this field.”

   The third paragraph was revised to read: “As the Soviet Government is aware, the governments of Great Britain, Canada and the United States believe that a commission should be established under the United Nations to study the problems raised by the discovery of atomic energy and other related matters, and to make recommendations for submission to the Organization. It is expected that a proposal to this effect will be presented at the first meeting of the United Nations in January, 1946. There is attached in this connection as Annex I a draft incorporating the present views of the United States with respect to the establishment of the proposed commission. This Government proposes this draft as a basis for discussion and is desirous of ascertaining whether the Soviet Government will associate itself with a proposal along these lines.”

   The remaining paragraphs were to be omitted.

   The annex to the proposed paper was to be the same as that proposed by the informal interdepartmental committee (ante, p. 94), except that item (2) of section V was changed to read “the necessary measures to facilitate …” and item (4) to read “effective safeguards for those nations complying with the recommendations of the Commission.”