Office of the Historian

600.0012/9–2553

The Special Assistant to the President (Jackson) to the Under Secretary of State (Smith)1

top secret
eyes only
Washington, September 25, 1953.

Dear Beedle: During a discussion with the President on the Candor speech, an idea came up about which he asked me to write you.

The general concept of a speech by the President on atomic warfare and the atomic age has been, as you know, batting around for quite some time—as I recall it, since February or March. At that time all those involved—that is, the members of NSC and the high command of AEC—were very much in favor of such a speech being made, and at that time they had definite and fairly simple reasons for feeling as they did.

Now, quite a few months have passed, and an absolute rash of material on the subject has been in the press and on the radio.

The question is, has this taken the edge off the idea? In other words, are we for candor out of habit, or do we still really think it is a good idea?

The President wanted me to put the question to you personally, and ask you for an early reply which would be your personal views, uninfluenced by any indians.

If your reply is affirmative, then there are a few other questions the President would like to ask you on the same basis. They are:

1.
Is it possible to make a “hydrogen bomb” speech without some kind of equally significant hopeful alternative?2
2.
If such a counterbalance is essential, should both be in the same speech, or should we be thinking in terms of two speeches by the President fairly close together, one exclusively destruction and the other hope and reconstruction?
3.
If you think that two speeches would be better, which should be the first one? And should the first one, whichever it is, include some reference to the second one?

Many thanks for your trouble.

Sincerely yours,

C D
  1. A copy of this letter in the C. D. Jackson papers at the Eisenhower Library indicates that the same communication was also sent to Secretary of Defense Wilson, Secretary of State Dulles, Admiral Strauss, Governor Stassen, and Admiral Radford.↩
  2. A handwritten notation to subparagraph 1 on the source text reads: “Answered by phone.”↩