Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Regulation of Armaments; Atomic Energy, Volume XX

304. Memorandum of a Conversation, White House, Washington, October 8, 1957, 4 p.m.¹

Washington, October 8, 1957, 4 p.m.

PARTICIPANTS

• The President
• The Secretary of State
• Mr. Stassen

Mr. Stassen gave the President to read his new memorandum of October 7.² The President read it. Mr. Stassen then made a strong argument in support of agreeing to the immediate cessation of the testing without agreement on any other aspects of our program. He said this was an “historic moment” to get this opportunity for agreement and that such an agreement was in the best interests of the United States.

I pointed out that this opinion was not shared by the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff,³ the Chairman of the AEC,⁴ or by the Secretary of State,⁵ and that therefore there was a possibility that it was not in the best interests of the United States.

Mr. Stassen pressed very strongly on the possibility that the inspection to detect testing would “open up” the Soviet Union and that this would be immensely important.

The President concluded that we would adhere to our present program but that it might be of interest to try to ascertain as to whether in fact the Soviets would “open up” and to what degree, this to be done without any implication that we would accept testing without cut-off or inspection against surprise attack or the other features of our program.

Mr. Stassen had with him a small map indicating the stations that were proposed and which he had shown the President.⁶ Subsequent to the meeting, I authorized Mr. Stassen, through a reliable intermediary such as Sweden, to try to ascertain whether the Soviets would accept this degree of inspection together with the degree of mobility that our experts had recommended.

[Here follows discussion on other matters in preparation for the President’s forthcoming press conference.]

JFD

1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, Meetings with the President. Secret-Personal and Private. Drafted by Dulles. The first five paragraphs of this memorandum were forwarded to Elbrick, Smith (who became Assistant Secretary of State for Policy Planning on October 18, but was already acting in this capacity), Howe, and Farley in a memorandum from David Peacock, Jr., October 11. (Department of State, Central Files, 600.0012/10–1157)
2. Supra.
3. See Document 300 and its enclosure.
4. Strauss’ views on Stassen’s September 23 informal memorandum are contained in his memorandum to Dulles, September 28. (Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Administration Series, Disarmament Talks)
5. See Document 298.
6. Not attached to the source text, it is presumably the same map attached as Annex A to Stassen’s memorandum to Dulles, Supra.