555. Supplementary Memorandum of Meeting1
Supplementary Memorandum—Meeting of the President with Prime Minister Macmillan on March 29, 1960 at Camp David, 3:30 PM.
Secretary Herter brought in a draft of instructions to the US and UK delegations at the test suspension negotiations in Geneva. The President said he had looked at these and thought they were satisfactory.
Prime Minister Macmillan commented that he saw two reasons against trying to incorporate the provisions for a moratorium on testing below the threshold into the treaty. First, we have always said that we would not sign an agreement unless there were fully effective inspection. The second point is that the moratorium then would not go into effect until the treaty is ratified. This would mean that we would have to wait at least until next February, which is apparently the earliest time that a treaty could be expected to be ratified.
Mr. Herter raised the point as to whether there should be a moratorium on tests above the threshold while we await ratification. He said that it has always been generally assumed that there would be such a moratorium, and general agreement with this position was indicated.
Brigadier General, USA
- Source: Instructions for test ban negotiations. Secret. 1 p. Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Miscellaneous Series, Macmillan, Vol. II. Drafted on April 20.↩