Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, General; the United Nations, Volume I

Department of State Atomic Energy Files

Memorandum by Mr. Franklin A. Lindsay ⁶⁹ to the United States Representative on the Atomic Energy Commission (Baruch)

confidential

[New York,] September 25, 1946.

Subject: Conversation with de Rose⁷⁰ of French Delegation

This morning Line Gordon and I called on de Rose, Parodi’s assistant, to discuss the coming Scientific Meeting, and the course which the Commission might follow after that meeting. De Rose stated that he believed Parodi would be opposed to bringing the Scientific Report to a final vote tomorrow. He stated the Russians were proud people and that if we forced a decision before they were ready to sign, they might later decide not to sign at the bottom of the list. He thought that there would be nothing gained by forcing a 10–2 approval tomorrow.⁷¹

He reiterated the position taken by Parodi at luncheon with us a month ago that after receiving the Scientific Report the Commission should recess in order that the Members might report to their Governments and receive further instructions.

Apparently, both he and Parodi had understood you and Mr. Eberstadt to have approved the suggestions (a) that there should be no discussion of political questions until after the Paris Conference and the General Assembly had adjourned, and (b) that the Commission should recess and seek further instructions from the various Governments, He was apparently not familiar with the Canadian proposal to begin examination in a sub-committee of Committee No. 2 of the specific measures of control which would be required at each stage in the technological processes outlined in the Scientific Report. He was not sure how Parodi would receive such a proposal. He was certain that Parodi wished to avoid political discussions until after the General Assembly, and thought that he might wish to delay this type of discussion also.

At the end of the discussion he reassured us of the French support of the principles of our plan. He stated that sooner or later a final decision would have to be taken, and that if the Russians refused to participate in international control, we would then have to examine the question as to whether or not we desired to set up an international control agency excluding the Russians.

Franklin A. Lindsay

69. United States Delegation Staff Member.
70. François de Rose, Adviser, French Delegation to the Atomic Energy Commission.
71. The Scientific and Technical Committee adopted its report on the feasibility and nature of effective controls at its 2nd Meeting, September 26, subject to the following reservation by the Soviet representative: “The information at the disposal of the Committee was, as the report acknowledges, limited and incomplete. For this reason, the majority of the conclusions in the Committee’s report are hypothetical and conditional. It is with this reservation that I vote for the adoption of the report.”