68. Letter From the Deputy Representative on the United Nations Disarmament Commission (Stassen) to the Acting Secretary of State1
Dear Herbert: Thank you for your letters of September 9th and 12th.2
In view of the position of the Department of State and the Department of Defense, currently no proposal will be made for a technical panel which involves the exchange of visits and field testing of inspection methods at actual installations.
Under these circumstances, I believe it is better that the United States should make no proposal of any study group at the present time until we see what the Soviet reaction may be to the Eisenhower plan, as the proposal of an anemic study group will militate against getting a favorable Soviet response to the Eisenhower plan and would weaken the United States position in world opinion. In this connection, I would appreciate it if State would give careful consideration to an interesting alternative advanced by Mr. Berding3 of USIA at the last meeting of the President’s Special Committee on Monday, September 12th.4 He suggested that the technical panel should be specifically [Page 197] asked as its first move to exchange blueprints on one port and one airdrome, and then exchange aerial photography of that same port and same airdrome. It was his view that this would add to the world-wide pressure for acceptance and implementation of President Eisenhower’s proposal, and it would be very favorable for United States opinion objectives on a world level.
With reference to the last paragraph of your letter of September 9th, I believe it is quite clear that it will facilitate the work of the United States in this field if we continue in accordance with the original National Security Council action5 and in accordance with the President’s letter setting up the special inter-departmental committee, and work out the coordinated positions through this means rather than place this burden upon the Department of State. In other words, I believe the President’s letter, which was carefully worked out with Secretary Dulles, Secretary Wilson, Ambassador Lodge, and the President, is the right and wise way to proceed, and the functioning of the Special Committee which has been established has already demonstrated to such in its initial stages.
With reference to your letter of September 12th, my cable No. 2676 of the same date to you, which crossed your letter, indicates the manner in which I am proceeding in accordance with our conference to enlist United Kingdom support and joint action, and I will today in legend form indicate the type of action the United States will contemplate in support of the Eisenhower proposal, but without tabling a resolution and leaving flexible room for maneuver of the United States in relationship to its Western associates and the U.S.S.R. between now and the December action contemplated in the General Assembly.
Sincerely yours,
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 600.0012/9–1355. Confidential.↩
- Hoover’s letter of September 9 is supra. His letter of September 12 has not been found in Department of State files.↩
- Berding proposed an aerial test inspection within the framework of the President’s Geneva proposal which is set forth in an attachment to a memorandum of September 14 from Joseph S. Toner, Executive Secretary of Stassen’s Special Staff on disarmament problems, to the Special Staff. (Department of State, Disarmament Files: Lot 58 D 133, Aerial Inspection)↩
- The President’s Special Committee, consisting of representatives of the Departments of State, Defense, and Justice; AEC; CIA; JCS; and USIA, was established in accordance with Presidential instructions transmitted to Stassen by letter of August 5. (ibid., Central Files, 330.13/8–555)↩
- Reference presumably is to NSC Action No. 1419, especially subparagraph d. Regarding NSC Action No. 1419, see footnote 9, Document 45.↩
- Telegram 267 from New York, September 12, not printed. (Department of State, Central Files, 330.13/9–1255)↩