Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, National Security Affairs; Foreign Economic Policy, Volume I

Editorial Note

On October 3, 1951, Joseph Short, Secretary to the President, made public the following statement: “Another atomic bomb has recently been exploded within the Soviet Union. In spite of Soviet pretensions that their atomic energy program is being directed exclusively toward peaceful purposes, this event confirms again that the Soviet Union is continuing to make atomic weapons.

“In accordance with the policy of the President to keep the American people informed to the fullest extent consistent with our national security, the President has directed me to make this statement and to stress again the necessity for that effective enforceable international control of atomic energy which the United States and the large majority of the members of the United Nations support.

“Further details cannot be given without adversely affecting our national security interests.”

For information on the background of this announcement, see Hewlett and Duncan, page 558. For documentation on the first Soviet nuclear test, announced on September 23, 1949, see Foreign Relations, 1949, volume I, pages 419 ff.