Department of State Atomic Energy Files
The Secretary of State to the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Bevin)
Dear Ernest: Referring to your letter of the 20th advising me that the Prime Minister expects to make an announcement in the House of Commons tomorrow, January 22 about the establishment in this country of an organization for the production of fissile material required in your program for the use of atomic energy:
I do not want to seem presumptuous but I wish that the Prime Minister could see his way clear to delay his announcement until the Assembly has passed the Resolution as to atomic energy which is sponsored by our governments. The subject is not well understood [Page 736] and I fear that this announcement on the day that the Resolution is reported to the Assembly will provoke discussion.
It is expected that the Resolution will be considered in Committee today and should be acted upon by the Assembly this week.50
Sincerely yours,
- In a letter to Mr. Byrnes on January 23, Mr. Bevin stated that Mr. Attlee had agreed to defer his statement (Department of State Atomic Energy Files).↩