Editorial Note
On September 23, President Truman announced that the United States possessed evidence that an atomic explosion had occurred in the Soviet Union; for the text of the President’s statement, see the Department of State Bulletin, October 3, 1949, page 487. For the text of the statement on the subject by the Secretary of State, also issued on September 23, see ibid. The statement released by Acting Secretary Webb on September 28 is printed, ibid., page 488. For an account of the detection of the Soviet test and events culminating in the President’s statement, see Hewlett and Duncan, Chapter X. For additional documentation on the Soviet atomic test in connection with United States policy on the international control of atomic energy, see pages 7 ff.