593. Memorandum of Conference with the President1
OTHERS PRESENT
- Chairman McCone, General Goodpaster
Mr. McCone noted that he would be leaving for the discussions with Macmillan and the British on test suspension negotiations later the same day. Mr. McCone said that checks that had been made with the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy made it clear that a shift to our “fall-back postion” regarding Soviet inspection of nuclear devices used in our seismic experimentation program would cause a great deal of trouble in the Congress. The President said he understood from Macmillan’s latest letter that he would like to see us go to our fall-back position.
Mr. McCone said that the Soviets evidently knew about our fall-back position at the time we put forward our proposal regarding reciprocal inspection arrangements. He didn’t know who had passed this information to them, but noted that it must have been our negotiators in Geneva, or the British, who had been informed about it. In any case, they turned down the reciprocal system and demanded what amounted to unilateral concession by the United States.
The President told Mr. McCone that he thought he and Under Secretary Merchant should simply tell the British that we have so many [Typeset Page 2159] political problems in regard to this matter during the next 2½ months that he did not feel it is possible to prepare the way for the proposal now. He did not, however, want to be in the position of breaking up the negotiations. He commented that this would be a shock to world opinion, adding that world opinion can be held quite strong along lines to which people are accustomed, but can become unstable and “shattered” under the shock of surprise, as for example the U–2 affair. The President added that he did not want Macmillan to think that we are playing fast and loose with him in having mentioned [Facsimile Page 2] a fall-back position in July and then not putting it forward now.
Mr. McCone recalled that the check made with the Congress indicated that they would not clear the fall-back position. The President thought that after the election, an incoming President might have a good chance to get something like this through. He added that he considers the Atomic Energy Act unconstitutional in the powers it accords to the JCAE. He thought perhaps he would put forward the proposal and let Congress turn it down—and added that he might conceivably, in those circumstances, go ahead and do what he proposed and defy Congress to take action against him.
Mr. McCone said there is one point he intends to stress to Macmillan and that is that there is a tremendous difference between the United States and the USSR at Geneva, and that any talk of having narrowed these differences to something quite small is entirely erroneous. The President commented that he would be glad to take any treaty reducing military weapons if there is a proper quid pro quo and if adequate inspection to verify performance is provided. Mr. McCone recalled that the Soviets have offered three inspections a year and that practically speaking this is equivalent to none at all. He said Dr. Killian has held that a number in the order of seventy-five is a minimum.
Mr. McCone next commented that he had agreed that Ambassador Lodge, in making his speech on disarmament, should suggest that we and the Russians each put 30,000 kgs. of U–235 into escrow under inspection. He referred to planning a few years ago on the subject of atomic weapons and noted that our annual production today is many times what was estimated to be the total requirement just a few years ago.
The President asked that Mr. McCone extend his personal regards to Prime Minister Macmillan when he saw him.
Brigadier General, USA
- Source: Preparation for McCone’s discussions with Macmillan. Secret. 2 pp. Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Diary Series. Drafted on August 19.↩