Office of the Historian

291. Memorandum of a Conference With the President, White House, Washington, August 28, 1957, 10:30 a.m.1

Washington, August 28, 1957, 10:30 a.m.

OTHERS PRESENT

  • Secretary Dulles
  • Mr. Rountree2 (part-time)
  • Mr. Gerard Smith (part-time)
  • Mr. Hagerty (part-time)
  • Major Eisenhower

[Here follows discussion regarding the Middle East, extracts of which are printed in volume XIII, pages 659–669,]

Disarmament—(Here, Mr. Rountree was replaced by Mr. Gerard Smith)

The question at stake here was the timing and the issuing agency of a statement on U.S. government’s reaction to Mr. Zorin’s speech,3 coupled with the Soviet announcement of successful testing of an ICBM.4 Consulted on this matter was Mr. Stassen who talked to Secretary Dulles by phone during the meeting.5 Thus, changes in wording were made in the basic press release. The final result of the discussion was that the release would be made by 12:00 noon this date (August [Page 716] 28th) by the White House.6 The reason for the immediate release by the White House is that it is a high priority matter when the coincidence of Soviet timing is considered, and is incapable of handling by any agency other than the White House itself. Mr. Hagerty was charged with informing Acting Secretary Quarles and Admiral Strauss of the release.

John S.D. Eisenhower

Major, Infantry, US Army
  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Miscellaneous Material. Top Secret. Drafted by Major Eisenhower.↩
  2. William M. Rountree, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs.↩
  3. Zorin’s speech to the Subcommittee of the U.N. Disarmament Commission, August 27 (U.N. doc. DC/SC.l/65/Rev. 1), is printed in Documents on Disarmament, 1945–1959, vol. II, pp. 849–868.↩
  4. Regarding the Soviet announcement, see The New York Times, August 27, pp. 1 and 6.↩
  5. No record of a morning telephone conversation between Dulles and Stassen has been found in the Eisenhower Library or Department of State files.↩
  6. For Eisenhower’s August 28 statement on disarmament, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1957, pp. 635–636.↩