Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume VII, Arms Control and Disarmament

132. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between President Kennedy and the Under Secretary of State (Ball)⁰

Washington, February 22, 1962, 10:35 a.m.

The President said the matter which he thinks some people over there should think about and give their advice is the question of testing and disarmament conference. One alternative has been strongly recommended by Gaitskell;¹ another was the one we originally were going to follow—to have a meeting at the end of this month and announce that before the disarmament conference begins we were not going to get entwined with testing in April. Gaitskell feels that we will be charged with sabotage. He, of course, would like us to announce that we would give this one last chance on the presumption that the Soviets would not respond and we could test. The President does not particularly want to announce, but make one more effort because he thinks it places us in a weak position. He does not think there is a question as to whether we should make our announcement the end of February or the first of March and take the risk of saying we are sabotaging or whether we should just say nothing—let the ship sail—and then about April 10th announce that it seems to be inevident the Soviets are going to agree to anything. Then go ahead with speed for the choice is—do we make it the first of March or some time the end of next week, recognizing when the conference begins. Or do we wait until the last minute and then say that the conference has not produced any indication we are going to get any place and that we are going to test. We have to begin to decide which of these two.

Ball said Secretary Rusk had talked at some length with Gaitskell about this problem.² One of the possibilities that we put forward was to say that by such and such we are going to make up our minds, but we really want to see if there is any evidence of serious intention. The President said that this was the course he thought Gaitskell wanted us to do. In addition he thought it laid us open to a lot of “Oh, my God, we’re not going to start that!” sort of thing. Ball agreed saying it was like giving an ultimatum. He thought that the Secretary’s own inclination as well as his own was probably to feel that we ought to go ahead as the President had suggested—around the 10th of April, or something like that—after we see that there was enough evidence one way or another to indicate whether there was any serious intention here. That is, without saying anything. But not to make it, in other words, the first of March. Ball would like to have another look at it, after the Secretary calls around 11.³ The President said this should be decided next week. Ball agreed.⁴

0. Source: Kennedy Library, Ball Papers, Telephone Conversations, Disarmament. No classification marking.
1. No memorandum of the President’s conversation held February 19 with Hugh Gaitskell, leader of the British Labor Party, has been found, but a briefing memorandum from Bundy to Kennedy with two attachments, dated February 19, is in the Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Subjects Series, Nuclear Weapons Tests 2/17/62-4/4/62. See the Supplement. A February 20 letter from Gaitskell to Kennedy, urging Kennedy not to announce resumption of testing before the commencement of the Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Committee, is in Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204, Macmillan-Kennedy 1962.
2. Memoranda by Alf E. Bergesen of BNA of Rusk’s conversations with Gaitskell on February 19 and 24 are ibid., Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 65 D 330.
3. The memorandum of Ball’s telephone conversation with Rusk at 11:50 a.m. reports Ball as saying that the President wanted “to get some thoughts as to three possibilities: The announcement next week, or about the 10th of April, or try to adapt.” The conversation was inconclusive on this point. (Kennedy Library, Ball Papers, Telephone Conversations, Disarmament)
4. In a memorandum for the record of the White House staff meeting held February 23, Legere reported Bundy as saying that Kennedy would “make his decision on the resumption of nuclear testing presumably at the NSC meeting Tuesday [February 27]” and would later that week make a speech in which he would “announce his decision.” (National Defense University, Taylor Papers, Daily Staff Meetings Jan-Apr 62)