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

316. Letter From the President’s Special Assistant (Stassen) to the Secretary of State¹

Washington, December 23, 1957.

Dear Foster: The report on your background session with the press in Paris on December 19th² states that you told the press that the May 31, 1957 informal memorandum to Zorin³ made proposals that were beyond U.S. authorization.

In fact the May 31st informal memorandum kept meticulously within the decisions which the President had made as reflected in the official minutes prepared by Robert Cutler and initialed by the President.⁴ No one in the U.S. Delegation, nor in the Department of Defense or the Atomic Energy Commission has ever claimed that any paragraph of the memorandum went beyond U.S. policy.

Sincerely,

Harold

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 600.0012/12–2357. Confidential.
2. President Eisenhower and Secretary Dulles were in Paris to attend the NATO heads of government meetings, December 16–18. For documentation on these meetings, see vol. IV, pp. 218 ff. The report of Dulles’ background session with the press has not been found in the Eisenhower Library or Department of State files.
3. Document 214.
4. Document 206.