57. Telegram 1123 from USUN, October 71
Nuclear testing. Following is draft of proposed statement for President which was discussed with Dept this morning:
“Since the Soviet Union resumed nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere on September 2, it has detonated eighteen fallout producing nuclear devices. Some of these devices have released energy equivalent to millions of tons of TNT.
Because these explosions result in pollution of the atmosphere I joined with Prime Minister Macmillan on September 3 in proposing that the Soviet Union agree with our governments not to conduct [Typeset Page 166] nuclear tests which produce radioactive fallout. The Soviet Union rejected that offer.
The Soviet test series threatens to intensify competition in the development of more and more deadly nuclear weapons. Thus these tests increase the possibility of ultimate disaster for all mankind.
The time for action is perilously late. Soviet testing tilts the balance of military advantage. Unless Soviet tests are halted, the United States will be forced, however reluctantly, to begin testing in the atmosphere in order to preserve its own security and the security of its Allies.
[Facsimile Page 2]Therefore, for the safety of our own generation and the health of generations to come, I invite the Soviet Union, first, immediately to discontinue all nuclear testing and, second, to conclude within thirty days a treaty prohibiting all nuclear weapons tests, under effective controls.
The draft treaty prepared by the United States and the United Kingdom after two and one-half years at the conference table in Geneva should serve as a basis for this treaty.
The United States would wish to know within a week whether the Soviet Union agrees to adopt this procedure. If it does not, the United States will be obliged to press forward with tests in all environments, including the atmosphere, as may be necessary for its own safety and the safety of the free world.”
Ambassador Dean and Popper prepared proceed to Department at any time for discussion this matter.
- Transmits draft Presidential statement on nuclear testing. Confidential. 2 pp. Department of State, Central Files, 700.5611/10–761.↩