Department of State Disarmament Files

Extract From the Minutes of a Meeting of the Secretaries of State, War, and Navy, Washington, August 7, 1947

secret

I. Policy Regarding the Eventual Destruction of Atomic Weapons

decision

It was agreed to defer consideration of this matter pending consultation with Mr. Osborn, the U.S. [Deputy] Representative on the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission, on the question of approaching certain member governments of the Atomic Energy Commission with a view to having further discussion of the subject matter postponed indefinitely.

implementing action

Mr. Rusk of the State Department to give Mr. Osborn the benefit of the views expressed at this meeting and report on his reaction.

discussion

Secretary Marshall raised as the first item the need for instruction to the U.S. Representative on the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission as to how he should vote on the question of the eventual destruction of atomic weapons. Secretary Marshall read the the position proposed by the State Department:

“Our atomic weapons will not be destroyed or disposed of unless or until a fully effective system of international control of atomic energy, including international inspection, operation and ownership of dangerous atomic activities, has been established and has progressed to that stage at which it shall have been agreed atomic weapons are to be eliminated from national armaments. The United States considers that at that point all atomic weapons should be destroyed, and that nuclear fuel contained therein should be diverted to peaceful purposes.”

Secretary Marshall also read excerpts from the President’s letter of instructions to Mr. Baruch of June 7, 19461 and from a series of public statements by U.S. officials indicating the attitude of this Government toward the eventual destruction of atomic weapons.

Mr. Pike2 indicated that the United States Atomic Energy Commission considered the question primarily one for the State Department as a basic policy matter, and stated that the Commission accepted the proposed views of the Department of State.

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Secretary Royall stated that the War Department considered that the U.S. should not extend its position on this matter since discussions thus far in the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission have indicated no agreement on basic principles with the Russians, and that the U.S. should not make any amendments of the type proposed at this time. He indicated that the War Department accepted the views of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and read the following summary of their views:

“The Joint Chiefs of Staff see no objection, after successful establishment by treaty or convention of a control agreement embodying the principles of the United States (Baruch Plan) proposal for the control or atomic energy, and after adequate demonstration of the plan’s effectiveness, to the disposal of existing atomic weapons by any means, including destruction, which may be agreed upon at that time.

“From the point of view of the National Security, the Joint Chiefs of Staff are of the opinion that an agreement by the United States as to the ultimate disposition of atomic weapons should not be made at this time.”

Secretary Marshall asked Mr. Rusk to indicate the situation in the United Nations on this question. Mr. Rusk stated that although the question is not now immediately before the Atomic Energy Commission, it would undoubtedly be raised during the Commission’s debate on its second report to the Security Council and it would probably come up for discussion in the Security Council itself and in the General Assembly. He stated further that Mr. Osborn had asked for and obtained the assistance of his colleagues on the Atomic Energy Commission in dealing with this question when it was raised by the Russians and that Mr. Osborn had assured his colleagues that the U.S. position would be clarified in the near future.

Mr. Sullivan indicated his concern lest the “disposal” of atomic weapons would in fact be more harmful to U.S. interests than “destruction” since we are already committed to the elimination of atomic weapons from national armaments, when an international control system has been effectively established.

Mr. Pike stated that one of the reasons for his Commission’s agreement with the view proposed by the State Department was that they had considered very carefully the various ways and means of disposing of the weapons and had concluded that destruction was by all doubts the method of disposal most acceptable to the U.S.

Mr. Volpe stated that the U.S. position on this question would be determined to a considerable extent by whether discussions in the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission should continue beyond [Page 593] September, in the light of complete lack of progress in these discussions today.

Mr. Rusk indicated that Mr. Osborn was desirous of not having to meet this question and would in any event do what he could to keep it from arising, but that it might be dangerous to leave him without instructions on a point on which it would be possible in a parliamentary sense for the Russians to insist upon an expression of a U.S. position.

Secretary Forrestal asked whether it might not be useful to make a further approach to the member governments of the Atomic Energy Commission to get their assistance in postponing discussion on this matter.

After considerable discussion Mr. Rusk suggested that he be permitted to give Mr. Osborn the benefit of the views expressed at the meeting to determine whether an approach might not be made to certain member governments of the Atomic Energy Commission to get further discussion of this point indefinitely postponed. The Committee members agreed to this procedure.

  1. Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. i, p. 846.
  2. Sumner T. Pike, member, United States Atomic Energy Commission.