Office of the Historian

214. Letter From the Secretary of State to the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (Strauss)1

Washington, January 29, 1957.

Dear Lewis: We have now received preliminary reports from our Missions in Europe regarding the proposal that this Government made to the European Governments concerned for handling prospective bilateral negotiation with us in such a fashion as to minimize any possible adverse effects on the Euratom Treaty negotiations now going on in Brussels. While we have not heard officially from the Germans, Italians, or the French, it now appears that their three Ambassadors in Washington will shortly make a démarche to us, based on consultation among the Six Nations, suggesting a formula which will permit the three principal countries to move ahead now with specific nuclear power projects under appropriate bilateral arrangements with the United States in such a manner as not to prejudice their negotiations in Brussels.

In order that we may be prepared to move with dispatch once the three nations have formally approached us, I am asking Mr. Gerard Smith to get in touch with Mr. John Hall of the Commission, to be sure that any necessary preparatory staff work may be done in advance. As one of the conditions of the apparent understanding among the Brussels powers will be that their benefits and obligations under bilateral agreements with the United States should be transferred to Euratom, I hope the Commission will find it possible to agree to arrangements in this sense.2

Sincerely yours,

John Foster Dulles
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.4097/1–2957. Confidential. Drafted by Schaetzel and Cleveland on January 23.↩

  2. On February 1, the Ambassadors of France and Italy and the Chargé of the Federal Republic of Germany called on Elbrick and reported that their governments had consulted with the governments of the other three ECSC countries and had reached a consensus that they could properly proceed to negotiate bilateral atomic energy agreements with the United States prior to the establishment of EURATOM. (Memorandum of conversation by Gerard Smith; ibid., Atomic Energy Files: Lot 57 D 688, Euratom—1957)

    Gerard Smith informed Lewis Strauss of this development in a letter of February 6. (Ibid.)

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