Arms Control and Disarmament
121. Telegram From the Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and European Regional Organizations to the Department of State
Source: Department of State, Central Files, DEF 18. Confidential. Repeated to Geneva, London, and Warsaw and pouched to all other NATO capitals.
122. Telegram From the Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and European Regional Organizations to the Department of State
Source: Department of State, Central Files, DEF 18. Confidential. Repeated to the Secretary of Defense, Geneva, London, Moscow, and Warsaw. Pouched to all other NATO capitals.
123. Memorandum of Conversation
Source: Department of State, Central Files, AE 6. Secret; Limdis. Drafted and approved by Thompson (S/AL) on March 19.
124. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rusk to President Johnson
Source: Department of State, Central Files, SP 6 UN. Confidential. Typed notes on the source text read as follows: “Signed original hand carried to President 4/2/66.” “Approved by President 4/2/66. Announcement made by President 4/3/66 [sic].” This memorandum apparently was generated by a memorandum from Leonard C. Meeker (L) and Joseph J. Sisco (IO) to Secretary Rusk, April 1. (Ibid.)
125. Memorandum From R.C. Bowman of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow)
Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Subject File, Disarmament, Test Ban Treaty, Box 11. Top Secret; Eyes Only.
126. Memorandum From the Acting Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (Fisher) to President Johnson
Source: Department of State,S/S Files: Lot 70 D 217, ACDA A-Z 1966. Top Secret. A May 2 cover memorandum from Adrian S. Fisher to Secretary of State Rusk states that he is sending the memorandum to the President, as well as to Secretary of Defense McNamara, and he asks for Rusk’s comments on the draft letter to Chairman Kosygin. No record of Rusk’s comments or of the dispatch of the letter to Kosygin has been found. In a memorandum to Rusk of May 2, Ambassador at Large Thompson opposed this initiative, partly because it was unlikely to draw a constructive response from the Soviets. (Ibid.) In a memorandum to Rostow, May 2, Spurgeon M. Keeny, Jr., suggested that they not send the proposal to the President until they got McNamara’s and Rusk’s reactions. (Johnson Library, National Security File, Rostow Files, Kosygin, Box 10)
128. Telegram From the Department of State to the Mission to the United Nations
Source: Department of State, Central Files, SP 6 UN. Confidential. Drafted by Gerald B. Helman (UNP) and Herbert K. Reis (L/EUR); cleared by Meeker (L), Stoessel (EUR), and Jonathan Dean (IO/UNP); and approved by David H. Popper (IO). Repeated to Moscow and Paris.
Shortly before leaving for Geneva to negotiate an outer space treaty with the Soviet Union, Ambassador Goldberg telephoned President Johnson on June 28 to brief him on the latest developments. Goldberg said that the U.S. draft of the treaty was very similar to the Soviets’ draft. “We should be able to make an agreement because they took the points from your letter and incorporated [them] in their treaty, a very interesting development,” he remarked. In briefing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the previous day, he had said that the treaty contained no military or security considerations and both Senators Symington, who attended as a representative of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Anderson said they supported the U.S. draft. Throughout Goldberg’s presentation, President Johnson interjected “good” or “sure” after nearly every sentence. (Johnson Library, Records and Transcripts, Recording of Telephone Conversation between President Johnson and Arthur Goldberg, June 28, 1966, 5:21 p.m., Tape F66.17, Side B) Reference to the President’s “letter” above presumably is to his May 7 statement, which Goldberg quoted in a May 9 letter to Kurt Waldheim, Chairman of the U.N. General Assembly Outer Space Committee. See Document 127.
129. Memorandum From the Acting Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (Fisher) to President Johnson
Source: Johnson Library, Bator Papers, Nonproliferation, August 3, 1965-July 29, 1966, Box 30. Secret; Limited Distribution.
130. National Intelligence Estimate
Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, National Intelligence Estimates, 11-66, U.S.S.R., Box 3. Top Secret; Restricted Data; Controlled Dissem. According to a note on the cover sheet, the Central Intelligence Agency, the intelligence organizations of the Departments of State and Defense, the National Security Agency, and the Atomic Energy Agency participated in the preparation of this estimate. The estimate was submitted by W.F. Raborn, Director of Central Intelligence, and concurred in by the U.S. Intelligence Board; the representative of the Assistant Director of the FBI abstained on the grounds that the subject was outside his jurisdiction.
131. Memorandum From the Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (Foster) to Secretary of State Rusk
Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 383, ACDA Memoranda Files, FRC 77 A 52, Memos to the Secretary of State, 1966. Secret. An unsigned handwritten note on the source text reads as follows: “Sir: We are informed by Ben Read that Mr. Foster mentioned this memo to you last evening. Copies have been sent by S/S to Messrs. Ball, U.A. Johnson, and Thompson.”
132. Aide-Mémoire From the British Embassy to the Department of State
Source: Department of State, Central Files, DEF 18. Confidential. British Ambassador Sir Patrick Dean transmitted this aide-mémoire to U. Alexis Johnson, Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, June 1. A cover memorandum of the conversation, June 1, indicates that Ambassador Johnson noted that “the Russians already seem to have heavily discounted the European clause option, and have been leveling their main attacks in the ENDC against any form of multilateral association. Consequently, it would appear doubtful whether a change in our position on the European option would substantially improve our tactical position in Geneva.” A cover memorandum transmitting the British aide-mémoire from Spurgeon Keeny to Walt Rostow, June 8, supported the British proposal for the nonproliferation treaty to exclude the possibility of nuclear dissemination to associations of states, the European option. (Johnson Library, National Security File, Subject File, U.S. Draft on Nonproliferation Treaty, Box 27)
135. Letter From Secretary of Defense McNamara to Secretary of State Rusk
Source: Johnson Library, Bator Papers, Non-Proliferation, August 3, 1965-July 29, 1966, Box 30. Secret. A June 10 cover memorandum from Spurgeon Keeny to Rostow states that Keeny thought Rostow should be aware of McNamara’s letter “suggesting that we reconsider our position on the Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
136. Memorandum for the Files
Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 383, ACDA/DD Files:FRC 77 A 32, National Security Council. Secret; Exdis.
137. Memorandum From Spurgeon M. Keeny, Jr., of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow)
Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Subject File, U.S. Draft on Non-Proliferation Treaty, Box 27. Secret.
138. Record of Meeting of the Committee of Principals
Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Subject File, Disarmament, Committee of Principals, Vol. 3, Box 14. Secret; Restricted Data. The meeting took place in the Secretary of State’s office. No drafting information appears on the source text, though Lawrence D. Weiler is listed as Reporting Officer on the attached list of 23 participants. Seaborg’s notes of this meeting are in Seaborg, Journal, Vol. 12, pp. 614 and 628.
139. Letter from Director of Central Intelligence Raborn to Secretary of State Rusk
Source: Department of State,S/S-RD Files: Lot 71 D 171. Top Secret; Restricted Data.
140. Memorandum From President Johnson to Secretary of Defense McNamara and the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (Seaborg)
Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Subject File, Nuclear Testing—National Nuclear Test Program, Vol. I, Box 31. Secret.
141. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rusk to President Johnson
Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OASD/ISA Files: FRC 70 A 6649, 388.3, January 1966. Top Secret; Restricted Data. A cover memorandum from Foster to members of the Committee of Principals, August 3, states that all the members of the Committee of Principals concurred in the memorandum with the exception of the Atomic Energy Commission, which suggested a number of minor changes that were incorporated in the memorandum sent to the President.
143. Memorandum for President Johnson
Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Agency File, United Nations, Celestial Bodies Treaty, Box 72. Confidential.
144. Memorandum From the Under Secretary of State (Ball) to President Johnson
Source: Department of State, Central Files, AE 6 US. Secret; Exdis. An August 9 cover memorandum from Ball to the President states that this proposal had been “informally discussed with experts in ACDA and the AEC. If you think well of the idea we can go forward with full staffing and clearance with the interested departments.” In a telephone conversation, August 10, Walt Rostow told Ball that “he had sent up Ball’s Plowshare memo and it came down with note ‘approve staffing and Departmental clearance.’” (Johnson Library, Ball Papers, Disarmament, Box 3)
145. Memorandum From the Executive Secretary of the Department of State (Read) to the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow)
Source: Department of State, Central Files, SP 4. Confidential. Drafted by Gerald B. Helman (IO/UNP) and cleared by Joseph J. Sisco (IO), Leonard C. Meeker (L), and Elizabeth A. Brown (IO/UNP). An attached August 8 memorandum from Robert L. Bruce, S/S Duty Officer, to Thomas R. Shaver (S/S-S) states that Mr. Read would like him to discuss with the Legal Adviser the preparation of a Read to Rostow memorandum on the Celestial Bodies Treaty, setting forth the points agreed on and those not agreed on. A handwritten note on this memorandum states that Helman was doing this.
146. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson
Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Rostow Files, Non-Proliferation, Box 11. Top Secret. A handwritten note on the source text indicates that the memorandum was received at 1:52 p.m. the same day. The source text bears the following choices for approval: “Set up a special meeting, Put on Tuesday lunch agenda, Leave it to Secretary Rusk, and See me.” The choice “Put on Tuesday lunch agenda” is checked. No record of the Tuesday lunch discussion has been found.
147. Report Prepared by a Panel Appointed by the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
Source: Department of State, S/AL Files: Lot 67 D 2. Secret; Restricted Data. The source text has two cover memoranda: the first from Larry Williamson (S/S-S) to Llewellyn Thompson (S/AL), et al., September 6, transmitting the report. The second from William C. Foster to the members of the Committee of Principals, September 2, transmits the Ad Hoc Panel’s Report and explains the origins of the Panel as follows: “at the meeting of the Deputies to the Committee of Principals held on June 3, 1966, serious questions were raised about the possibilities of evasion of a Threshold Test Ban Treaty through provisions for nuclear explosions for peaceful purposes. As a result ACDA organized a panel of experts consisting of Dr. Richard Blankenbecler, Dr. Warren Heckrotte, Mr. William J. Howard, Dr. William G. McMillan, Dr. Theodore B. Taylor, and Dr. M. Carl Walske under the chairmanship of Dr. Wolfgang K.H. Panofsky to study the security implications of modifying various agreements to ban nuclear weapons tests while permitting explosions for peaceful purposes.”
148. Memorandum From the Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (Foster) to President Johnson
Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Subject File, Non-Proliferation Treaty, 7/22/66, Vol. I, Box 26. Secret; Exdis.
149. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rusk to President Johnson
Source: Department of State, Central Files, AE 6 US. Secret. A September 16 cover memorandum from Benjamin H. Read to Rusk reads as follows: “Pursuant to your commitment to the President at lunch last Tuesday, I have had the attached memorandum prepared setting forth the pros (from the AEC papers) and the cons (from Bill Foster’s memoranda) and your recommendation that the President authorize the experiment to proceed. ACDA has approved the con portion of the memo and Alex Johnson has approved the whole memo. Recommendation: That you sign the attached memorandum.” A typed note on the source text states that the memorandum was “approved by the President. W. Rostow’s office notifying AEC of approval.”