Office of the Historian

600.0012/1–2154

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Deputy Under Secretary of State (Murphy)

secret
[Washington,] January 21, 1954.
  • Subject:
  • President Eisenhower’s December 8 Proposal
  • Participants:
  • Sir Roger Makins, British Ambassador
  • Robert Murphy, Deputy Under Secretary

Ambassador Makins called today at his request and left with me the attached aide-mémoire regarding the President’s proposal on atomic energy. He said he had gone to the airport today to say goodbye to the Secretary, incident to the latter’s departure for Berlin, and had given Mr. Merchant a copy of the attached aide-mémoire for the Secretary’s information.

Ambassador Makins referred to the active attention which London is giving, he said, to the relationship between the President’s proposals and disarmament, and the question whether and how the matter should come up in the UN Disarmament Commission. He said that London was actively trying to arrive at a position regarding the so-called “Baruch Plan” and wondered whether we still stood firmly on it. He said that he, of course, did not expect an answer to these questions now, but would hope to have the Department’s [Page 1354] comment on the aide-mémoire as soon as it might be convenient.

I told the Ambassador that the entire question is under active study now and mentioned that while we had expected pressures in New York for a meeting of the Disarmament Commission, perhaps as early as January 10, thus far this had not developed. There seemed to be a tendency to wait a little longer on the part of many delegations. Naturally, we were waiting the outcome of the Berlin conversations. Makins thought that the initial Russian reaction might be considered encouraging and said that Mr. Merchant had filled him in yesterday regarding the Secretary’s conversation with Ambassador Zarubin.

[Annex]

The British Embassy to the Department of State

secret
1240/1/33/54

Aide-Mémoire

Her Majesty’s Government have been considering President Eisenhower’s proposals on atomic energy in relation to the United Nations Majority Plan for the international control of atomic energy and the United States paper of June 18, 1952,1 about methods of implementing and enforcing the disarmament programme and establishing international control organs.

Her Majesty’s Government have reached no definite conclusions as yet about their attitude toward the United Nations Majority Plan or the extent to which it needs revision. But their preliminary view is that the proposal on atomic development in the control organ paper need not conflict with the President’s proposals and can be reconciled with the Majority Plan.

In order to carry their studies further they would like to know whether the United States Government—

(a)
agree in principle that the Control Organ paper might provide a suitable initiative in the Disarmament Commission;
(b)
consider that the section in it dealing with atomic development can broadly stand as it is so far as the Eisenhower Plan is concerned, and
(c)
consider that the section on the functions of the Control Organ should still be based on the United Nations Majority Plan [Page 1355] and if not what modifications in that Plan are they at present working on.

Washington, January 21, 1954.
  1. Not found in Department of State files.↩