Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Volume III, National Security Policy; Arms Control and Disarmament, Microfiche Supplement

300. Draft Presidential Statement¹

Washington, March 24, 1958

The President of the United States today stated:

“As the American people well know, the danger to all the people everywhere as the result of a nuclear war has weighed upon my mind and my heart for many years.

“These concerns caused me to propose the program of Atoms-for-Peace which has resulted in the establishment of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The endorsement of that proposal by the governments of 80 nations testifies to the universal desire for peace and to find a means to reduce, hopefully to eliminate, the terrible threat of atomic warfare.

“The Government of the United States has maintained that agreements to ban the use of atomic weapons are illusory because such agreements are unenforceable if war should occur. It is also obvious that a suspension of testing of atomic weapons would not mean that stockpiles of weapons of existing types would not continue to increase by continued manufacture. I have pointed out again and again that, with our basic international political issues and difficulties unresolved, it is the existence of atomic arsenals and their enlargement in the possession of three nations, and their inevitable acquisition by other nations, which forces the world to live on a knife-edge of uncertainty as to the maintenance of peace or an atomic holocaust.

“I now propose to the governments having atomic weapons and the means of increasing their numbers, a new approach to peace.

“Let us agree for a trial period of, say, two years to cease all production of the weapons materials. U–235 and plutonium, without which atomic weapons cannot be made. Let us cease to produce these materials for any purpose, military or peaceful. This suspension can be easily inspected since these plants are large, not numerous, and can be kept under U.N. surveillance simply by seeing to it that they are not operated.

“Let us during this period supply the growing demand for fissionable materials to meet the energy needs of a power-hungry world by using our nuclear materials that are in existence,—beginning to use the materials in our weapons stockpiles.

“During the two-year breathing period, let our negotiators seek safe means of resuming production under controlled methods which will foreclose the possibility that any of it will be converted to weapons use.

“Coincident with this more significant agreement a collateral agreement can easily be reached on such subordinate questions as a concurrent suspension of testing, or testing with limited fall-out or testing for peaceful uses only under U.N. supervision or some combination of these.”

Attachment

Semi-Final Draft Presidential Statement

Washington, March 24, 1958

SEMI-FINAL DRAFT OF PROPOSED PRESIDENTIAL STATEMENT

(To Be Released After Reading at Press Conference)

The United States will demonstrate to other nations the progress our scientists have achieved in reducing radioactive fallout from nuclear explosions.

To this end, we are inviting the United Nations to select fifteen qualified scientists to observe at the Eniwetok Proving Grounds in the Pacific this summer a large nuclear explosion better than 90% free of radioactive fallout. We will also invite a representative group of U.S. and foreign news media representatives.

The U.S. has made a long and determined effort to eliminate radioactive fallout from nuclear explosions, in the belief that a breakthrough could be achieved toward basic advances in both the peaceful and military uses of nuclear energy.

Such advances by American scientists could have tremendous significance in the peaceful uses of atomic energy. When man is able to use the stupendous force of a greater radioactive free nuclear explosion, waters can be channeled to desert areas, mineral deposits can be more readily reached, safe and deep-draught harbors can be developed, and level highways and canals built through mountainous areas.

This scientific progress will also make it possible to limit the effect of nuclear weapons to strictly military targets, eliminating the fallout hazard to civilians outside the target area. We can all agree that an explosion of the magnitude which the observers will see at Eniwetok should be used only for peaceful purposes. However, until a safeguarded international agreement is reached to control and reduce nuclear weapons and other armaments, these scientific advances constitute forward steps toward protecting civilian non-combatants from the horrors of modern war.

The United States has always publicly announced its nuclear testing programs. Open shots for official observers and the press, including those from foreign countries, have been held. We hope that other nations will be willing to announce their nuclear tests, and, by opening significant tests to international observation, will reveal their nuclear progress to the peoples of the world.

(Details will be announced later by the responsible departments and agencies of our Government.)

1. Source: Announces upcoming nuclear test at Eniwetok. Confidential. 4 pp. Eisenhower Library, Whitman File.