Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, National Security Affairs, Foreign Economic Policy, Volume I

Policy Planning Staff Files

Memorandum by Mr. Carlton Savage, Member of the Policy Planning Staff, and the Associate Chief of the Division of Eastern European Affairs (Hooker) to the Director of the Policy Planning Staff (Kennan)

top secret

[Washington,] November 14, 1949.

We have set out below a summary of our tentative conclusions on problems related to the international control of atomic energy. Detailed discussions are included in the attached papers.

1. National Commission. We do not favor the appointment of a National commission to reassess the U.S. position on international control. We do favor continuing the investigation of the subject in the Executive Branch of the Government under the leadership of the State Department, but with the counsel of authorities outside the Government. This should produce the same results as a National commission without the dangers inherent in the naming of a public body.

2. Truman-Stalin Meeting. We do not favor a Truman-Stalin meeting. We do favor bilateral discussions with the Russians as the occasion may arise, and possibly the eventual meeting of a Presidential emissary with Stalin to discuss not only atomic energy but also related problems.

3. Newman Proposal¹ We do not favor U.S. sponsorship of this proposal, which in itself does not seem practicable or desirable. We do favor investigation of variations of the proposal to ascertain whether a workable compromise on the atomic energy problem can be found.

4. U.N. Discussions. We favor a continuation of the U.N. atomic energy discussions, in which discussions we might present certain modifications in the majority plan. The forum for these discussions can be the Six Sponsoring Powers, the U.N. Atomic Energy Commission or any other appropriate U.N. body.

5. Atomic Energy and Conventional Armaments. We believe that there should be a high-level Government decision soon to determine whether U.S. security interests require conventional disarmament concurrently with the establishment of the international control of atomic energy.

1. Reference is to the position of James R. Newman, former Counsel of the Senate Special Committee on Atomic Energy, whose views were set forth in a radio broadcast on October 26, 1949, and summed up without attribution in the lead editorial of The New Republic, November 7, 1949. The essential feature of Newman’s viewpoint was advocacy of the prohibition of the production of all nuclear fuels. In his view, there no longer existed the prospect for overridingly important peaceful uses in the foreseeable future. The elimination of the production of nuclear fuels would obviate the necessity for an international agency which was a major obstacle to universal acceptance of the United Nations plan.