Eisenhower Library, Dulles papers, “Bricker Amendment”
The Secretary of State to the President1
Dear Mr. President: You asked my views as to the effect on our present international efforts of Senate adoption of S.J. Res. 1 (the so-called “Bricker Amendment”), dealing with the treaty-making and Executive power.
[Page 1836]In my opinion, if the Senate now adopted S.J. Res. 1, or any of the alternatives suggested by the principal proponents of that Resolution, it would at once have a seriously damaging effect upon what we are trying to do.
Under your guidance, I am at the present time engaged in conversations with the Soviet Union looking to the diversion of atomic energy from purposes of destruction to purposes of peaceful construction. This is in pursuance of your momentous address of December 8, 1953 to the United Nations.2
We are about to have important meetings at Berlin with representatives of the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and France. Also a decision is near on the creation of a European Defense Community as a hard and dependable core to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.3 The fate of Europe hangs in the balance and our fate is closely related.
In the West Pacific and Asia, the vital security interests of the United States are involved in steadily evolving relations with the free nations of that area.
It would be difficult to deal with these matters in a way which will serve the United States and the cause of peace if the Senate, by a two-third’s vote, proclaims to the world that the United States plans permanently to disenable itself from making treaties and conducting foreign relations in the historic manner to which the United States and the world are accustomed and which, for 165 years, has served us well.
I realize that action by the Senate is but the first of many steps in the process of constitutional amendment. I would myself be confident that on reflection the further steps would not be taken because sober thought would convince the nation of the danger of a program which would, in large measure, reproduce the international impotence which marked the Confederation during the period preceding the adoption of our Constitution. Nevertheless if the Senate with its great influence and prestige should by a two-third’s vote adopt the proposed amendment, this would be taken by our friends and by our enemies as foreshadowing a revolutionary change in the position of the United States.
Today the United States is a solid rock of dependability and stability which indispensably gives cohesion and courage to the society of free nations. If the Senate were to give notice that this stability and dependability could no longer be counted upon by our friends and need not be feared by our enemies, then in my opinion there [Page 1837] would inevitably be a reaction of major proportions which would impair our hopes and plans for peace and greatly increase our danger.
At no time in our history have the stakes of successful diplomacy been as high as they are today. Never before has war carried so devastating a threat and never before has the United States been the principal target of so great and malignant a power as exists in the world today. Today we need allies and collective security. We need the capacity to act decisively and to forge ties that will give us friends. A war against the United States standing alone would be an awful catastrophe. To avoid that is your high responsibility and it is a responsibility which your every word and act has shown that you can discharge with impressive success. However, in my opinion, the chances of success will largely diminish if S.J. Res. 1, or anything comparable to it, is now adopted.
Sincerely yours,
- The source text was attached to a brief covering letter of Jan. 21 from Secretary Dulles to President Eisenhower, in which Dulles said the letter on the Bricker Amendment was for the President “to use or not, as you see fit”. He noted further, “Please feel free to make any minor changes you think desirable. If you want to make any major changes, they could be quickly cleared with me by cable or phone to Berlin through Mr. Phleger.” On Jan. 21 Secretary Dulles left Washington to attend the Berlin Conference. For documentation concerning this conference, held Jan. 25–Feb. 18, see volume vii.↩
- For the text of this address, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953, pp. 813–822.↩
- For documentation regarding the plans to establish a European Defense Community, see vol. v, Part 1, pp. 571 ff.↩