Office of the Historian

501.BC Atomic/12-446

Memorandum by Mr. Henry G. Ingraham 54 to the Legal Adviser (Fahy)

confidential
New York, December 4, 1946.

For your information, Messrs. Baruch and Hancock today had lunch with Gromyko and Alexandrov upon Gromyko’s invitation. Mr. Baruch showed Gromyko a copy of the proposed findings and recommendations which Mr. Baruch is to present formally at tomorrow’s meeting at 6:00 P.M. of the full Commission.55 Gromyko read them and commented that the United States and the U.S.S.R. are now not far apart. He did not say how he would vote, and Mr. Baruch does not plan to propose and does not favor any vote tomorrow. But Gromyko’s comment, combined with the affable atmosphere and Molotov’s statement this morning with respect to the veto, appear to have made Mr. Baruch very optimistic. Mr. Hancock also seems optimistic, though more cautiously so. Both of them talked with Secretary Byrnes on the telephone following the luncheon.

Another new development, as you probably know, is that Shawcross made a statement in the Political Committee indicating that the control of atomic weapons should not precede, but should go into effect concurrently with, the control of other weapons (rockets, etc.) adapted to mass destruction.56 He made this point to Mr. Baruch also. Mr. Baruch replied to the effect that he was interested but that a question of good faith was involved and that he (Mr. Baruch) was not in a position to decide the United States’ stand on the point. Mr. Baruch has reported this conversation to Secretary Byrnes.

Henry G. Ingraham
  1. Special Assistant to the Legal Adviser detailed to the United States Delegation to the Atomic Energy Commission.↩
  2. At the 6th Meeting of the Atomic Energy Commission, November 13, the first plenary session since July 18, the AEC had approved a motion by Mr. Baruch that the Commission submit a report to the Security Council by the end of the year. All members of the Commission voted in favor of the motion with the exceptions of the Soviet Union and Poland who abstained. The document under reference here was a resolution containing points to be included by the Commission in its report which Mr. Baruch presented at the 7th Meeting of the AEC, December 5. The resolution contained a summary of the United States proposal for the international control of atomic energy. The Commission adjourned to permit studying of the proposal without setting the date for its next meeting. The United States resolution is printed as AEC (I), Supplement 3, Annex 4.↩
  3. The statement under reference was delivered at the 38th Meeting of the First Committee of the General Assembly, December 4.↩