48. Letter from Amb. Caccia to
President Kennedy, September
51
The Prime Minister has asked me to pass on to you the enclosed message
about Nuclear Tests. This was of course despatched before I had told him
of your decision of this afternoon and of the announcement which has
been made. After being informed, he spoke to me on the telephone and
said that he thought that you might all the same like to know what had
been in his mind as a result of a discussion of this problem with his
colleague earlier in the day.
Yours sincerely,
Attachment
London, September 5, 1961
[Facsimile Page 2]
Dear Mr. President,
I have been thinking further about the position on Nuclear Tests
following your initiative which led to our joint declaration last
Sunday. So far I think that we have done very well and have gained a
big propaganda advantage. Now the question is how to keep this
advantage and exploit it.
I presume that on Saturday, September 9, or shortly thereafter, we
shall get some sort of Soviet refusal of our suggestion. No doubt
the Russians will try to confuse the issue so far as possible,
perhaps by suggesting an uncontrolled ban on all Tests or by saying
that there should be progress in Disarmament as a whole rather than
on particular aspects. Do you think that immediately after such a
Russian reply we might jointly put in a resolution to the United
Nations calling on all nations to agree to end Tests in the
atmosphere? I suppose that the Russians might then propose an
amendment including under-ground Tests, but we should have to weigh
this risk
[Facsimile Page 3]
against the obvious advantage of getting a resolution such as I have
suggested.
Alternatively if such a resolution seems to have too many snags, are
there any statements which we could make to help to hold world
opinion in our favour?
[Typeset Page 143]
I should be very interested to hear your views. I think that we
gained greatly from the prompt action that we took last week at your
suggestion and it will be equally important that our reaction to the
Russian reply to our message should be prompt.
With warm regards,
Yours sincerely,
