Office of the Historian

153. Letter From the President’s Special Assistant (Stassen) to the Secretary of Defense (Wilson)1

Washington, September 7, 1956.

Dear Mr. Secretary: You will recall that President Eisenhower’s letter of 1 March 1956 to Chairman Bulganin expressed the belief that disarmament should be sought primarily, though not exclusively, in terms of limitation on armaments rather than on men. You will also recall that the United Kingdom, motivated by the same general reasoning, advanced for our consideration a plan for establishing allowed levels of conventional armaments based on manpower ceilings.2

Your letter of 11 May 1956, commenting on the UK plan3 stated it would be undesirable for the UK to introduce its plan at that time. It further stated that the subject was under review within the Department of Defense.

NSC Action No. 1513–c4 authorized me to explore and submit a report to the Council on the feasibility of measures for the reduction of major types of armaments, especially those capable of delivering nuclear weapons, in respects where inspection is shown to be effective. In carrying out this task, it will be necessary to devise a means of establishing allowed levels of armaments. It is further noted that the Annex to NSC Action No. 1513 refers to an illustrative manpower ceiling as a basis for measurement for reductions of armaments and military expenditures.

It is therefore requested that you develop and inform me as soon as possible of measures which you find feasible for establishing the relationship between levels of manpower and armaments. In the event you conclude that there are no satisfactory methods for establishing [Page 423] such a relationship, I should like to have your recommendations for any other method of arriving at armaments levels to be allowed under a comprehensive disarmament system.

As you know, the necessity of consultations with the Western members of the UN Subcommittee in advance of the UN General Assembly imposes a time problem, and therefore I would appreciate your estimate of the date on which a reply may reasonably be expected.5

Yours sincerely,

Harold E. Stassen
  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Project Clean Up. Secret.↩
  2. The British plan is not printed.↩
  3. Not found in Department of State files.↩
  4. For text of NSC Action No. 1513 and its Annex, see Document 112.↩
  5. See Document 164.↩