322. Record of Telephone Conversation Between Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles1
The Pres finished the Sec’s memo re Sat and does not see anything stated about the enactment of the law—and there is a part where we start talking about announcements—the Pres is sure the UK will not agree to anything unless we have a law. The Sec is not sure about that. The Sec did not have in mind doing anything for a month or more until we know what [Typeset Page 1344] is happening and the Sec thinks we should have a meeting with Strauss and Quarles who do not agree. The Pres is concerned re moral isolation. The Sec said by the end of the tests we will be unless we accompany it with some declaration. Don’t think we need do it before June or July. The Pres said if we do anything before Congress acts we will stop them from acting. The Pres said Congress this year is causing more trouble than the previous four. The Sec thinks we can get the legislation through if we agree within 30 days they pass a concurrent resolution opposing it—they would think we won’t carry it through then. Everybody is in agreement except the Dept of Justice. This has happened before. If it lies before Congress for 30 days Congress will express its views and it is highly unlikely 30 days.… The Pres said a concurrent resolution is bad—he can veto a joint res. This other takes 2/3s. The Pres thinks it would go through better if Strauss were not so disliked. The Sec does not think we can get it without the concurrent resolution or some control by Congress,—over each specific [Facsimile Page 2] agreement. The Pres would not care if it were joint—the Sec said they won’t take it. We have allowed concurrent resolutions to stop Exec action in several cases. The Sec said it is up to Justice now—he does not know what their final views will be. The Sec said you are asking them to lift a prohibition. The Pres said we don’t want to upset the balance to get temporary advantage. But if there has been precedents all right. The Sec said Defense and AEC have agreed they do not see any substantive objection to the procedure. The Pres thinks the AG will say there is nothing unconstitutional but he does not like it. The Pres said then the approval mentioned in the last para is under the assumption the law will be passed. The Sec said that was right—this indicates the trend of our thinking—he does not want approval now but will discuss it further tomorrow.
- Source: Congressional role in possible suspension of nuclear testing. No classification marking. 2 pp. Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, White House Telephone Conversations.↩