Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Regulation of Armaments; Atomic Energy, Volume XX

2. Memorandum of a Conference With the President, White House, Washington, January 14, 1955, 2 p.m.¹

Washington, January 14, 1955, 2 p.m.

OTHERS PRESENT

• Admiral Strauss
• Colonel Goodpaster

Admiral Strauss requested the President’s signature to a letter establishing the amounts of nuclear materials to be produced during 1955. He left with the undersigned for the President a carbon of the letter with the most sensitive figures omitted. (Attached hereto.)²

Admiral Strauss next showed the President a chart indicating the increase that has occurred over the past few years in numbers of weapons and the projected increase for 1955.

Admiral Strauss next handed to the President for him to read a letter concerning a proposed series of nuclear tests. He indicated he had cleared the matter with Secretary Dulles, who favored having the tests as scheduled and having observers from NATO and other friendly countries. The President approved the letter.³ Admiral Strauss left a copy of this letter with the undersigned (attached hereto).

Admiral Strauss next gave the President a letter (original attached hereto) calling for a committee to review security procedures respecting the AEC. He indicated he had spoken to Mr. Brownell about this, and that Mr. Brownell initially had great reservations, believing that if the committee were appointed, all clearance operations would cease until its report was in, but Admiral Strauss believed that he had been able to remove most, if not all, of Mr. Brownell’s concern on this score. The President stated that he approved the recommendation in principle providing all the others mentioned (Attorney General, Secretary of Defense, and General Cutler) agreed with the proposal.

Admiral Strauss referred to an offer the Soviets are reported just to have made to bring personnel from other countries into their atomic industrial plants and share with them their technical knowledge.⁴ After discussion, the President and Admiral Strauss agreed that an appropriate statement would express gratification of this Soviet move and hope that it will be backed up with an offer to make a substantial amount of fissionable material available, as the U.S. has already done. The President referred to the success which the “Atoms for Peace” exhibit at the UN has had. He indicated he would favor additional exhibits being prepared and displayed to a large number of our own people. Admiral Strauss indicated that this could be done without much cost.

G

Colonel, CE, US Army

1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Administration Series, AEC. Top Secret. Drafted by Goodpaster.
2. None of the referenced attachments in the form of letters and charts are attached to the source text and have not been found in the Eisenhower Library or Department of State files.
3. This sentence was added in handwriting on the source text.
4. This information was reported in The New York Times, January 15, 1955, p. 1.