26. Memorandum from Bundy to Seaborg, August 81
The President strongly agrees with your proposal that a plan be prepared showing the different kinds of preparations the Atomic Energy Commission could take for a resumption of tests, and he has asked me to send you this memorandum suggesting some of the things which it would be helpful for him to have clear in his mind as he considers the general problem.
We have two objectives: the first is to be ready to move promptly toward a resumption of militarily useful tests at such time as the President may decide to order them. But our second objective is to have as little public attention as possible given to any such preparations, especially during the period between now and the close of the UN General Assembly, in November or December. They obviously cannot have all that we want here, and the question is how to get the best arrangement, on balance.
My guess is that what we are dealing with essentially here is a public relations problem, and some things which look big in a technical sense may be relatively quiet in a public relations way. I therefore [Typeset Page 107] suggest that you prepare a pretty detailed picture of the specific things that would need to be done and the specific time lags which they entail. We might then sit down with Pierre Salinger and Ed Murrow and see if we cannot work out together a program that it would be sound to submit to the President for comment.
Of course, you and I understand that all preparations would be stand-by preparations, and that the President does not at present [Facsimile Page 2] wish to be in the position of requiring such preparations to be taken. The initiative is coming from you, as a matter of prudent forward planning.
Will you let me know as soon as you are ready to sit down on this one?
- Resumption of tests: Standby AEC plan requested. Secret. 2 pp. Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Subjects Series, Nuclear Testing, 7/16/61–8/9/61.↩