Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, National Security Affairs, Volume II, Part 2

600.0012/1–2054

The British Ambassador (Makins) to the Department of State¹

confidential

[Washington,] January 20, 1954.

Pour Mémoire

The President’s Proposal on Atomic Energy

1. Mr. Eden has been considering the question of procedure for dealing with this matter in the light of some talks which I have had with Mr. Dulles.

2. He feels that if progress is to be made with the President’s proposal, its discussion will have to be kept separate from the discussion of the Soviet proposal to ban atomic weapons. He also feels that the right place to discuss this latter proposal is the United Nations Disarmament Commission. The present thought is, therefore, that the Soviet proposal should be discussed in the Disarmament Commission of the United Nations and in the Sub-Committee to be established under the recent General Assembly resolution. He suggests that the discussion could take place concurrently with discussion of the President’s plan.

3. As regards the latter, Mr. Eden feels that, though France is admittedly of small importance from the atomic energy standpoint, it would on general grounds of policy, be desirable to bring her in immediately to the procedural discussion of the proposal.

4. As far as the substance of the proposals is concerned, Mr. Eden feels that the arguments for pursuing the discussion in the first instance through diplomatic channels are perhaps not conclusive. Since the Disarmament Commission of the United Nations itself contains no more than twelve members, the Sub-Committee need not exceed five or six, and, if the French and Canadians are brought into the discussions, it would be easier to do this in the Disarmament Commission. Under this procedure, it would also be easier to meet the Soviet demand that the ban on atomic weapons should be considered on the same footing as the President’s proposals.

5. Mr. Eden is therefore in favour of working towards the establishment of a second Sub-Committee of the Disarmament Commission, whose mandate would be confined to the discussion of the President’s proposals.

RM

1. This communication was left with Merchant by Ambassador Makins at 5 p.m. on Jan. 20. The source text is accompanied by two brief covering memoranda. The first, dated Jan. 20, from Merchant to the Secretary of State, reads as follows: “The British Ambassador left with me the following informal memorandum concerning the next procedural steps on the atomic energy discussions. He emphasized that this was not a formal document but indicated the lines along which Mr. Eden expected to speak to you at Berlin. He also gave a copy of it in my presence to Ambassador Heeney.” Merchant’s memorandum and the attached “pour mémoire”were transmitted to the Secretary through his Special Assistant Roderic O’Connor by Deputy Director of the Executive Secretariat Jeffrey C. Kitchen, Jan. 20, who noted in his memorandum that “Livy would like the Secretary to see” the materials “this evening.”