Office of the Historian

Department of State Atomic Energy Files

Memorandum for the Files by Mr. Joseph Chase of the Office of the Under Secretary of State (Webb)

secret
[Washington,] July 13, 1949.

Subject: Foreign Office Instructions to United Kingdom Delegation to the UN Regarding the Statement of Principles To Be Used by the Sponsoring Powers.

Tim Marten1 of the British Embassy on July 12 showed a Foreign Office telegram dated July 11 to Mr. Arneson and Mr. Chase to the following effect:

1.
The United Kingdom cannot agree to the retention of the second sentence in para 6(a) of the Statement of Principles. However, since all of 6(a) is taken from the Second Report, for which the UK had voted after having made certain reservations (by Cadogan on September 10, 1948 [1947]),2 these reservations are part of the legislative history and need not be repeated. Therefore, para 6(a) might be retained. However, if pressed by the Soviet Union during the consultations on the point of ownership, the UK will have to make its reservations clear once again.
2.
The Foreign Office felt that the US draft resolution3 for the UNAEC was provocative, particularly in that it stated that national ownership renders prohibition and control ineffective. This resolution being new language, with no legislative history, the UK cannot agree without making its previous reservations. This is a long standing Ministry decision and it cannot be reconsidered without considerable delay. In making this decision, the Ministers were very conscious of their responsibilities to the Commonwealth and would need Commonwealth approval in reversing themselves. The Foreign Office also argued that international ownership was not necessary for security and was difficult to defend in debate.

Joseph Chase
  1. F. W. Marten, First Secretary, British Embassy.↩
  2. For the reservations stated by Sir Alexander Cadogan, British Representative, at the 13th Meeting of the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission, September 10, 1947, see United Nations, Official Records of the Atomic Energy Commission. Second Year, No. 3, p. 58 (hereafter cited as AEC, 2nd yr., No. 3).↩
  3. Supra.↩