Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, General; The United Nations, Volume I

Department of State Atomic Energy Files

The United States Representative at the United Nations (Austin) to the Secretary of State

top secret

New York, August 13, 1947.

My Dear Mr. Secretary: We refer to your top secret letter No. 190 of August 11, 1947, second paragraph sub-title (b) which reads:

“… that at the same time it is important that the next report of the Commission should reveal with unmistakable clarity the grave and fundamental differences between the position taken by the Soviet Union on atomic energy control and that of the United States and nine other members of the Commission.”

At the present time it is contemplated that the interim report of the Commission to the Security Council on September 15th will include the following:

(a) A report by the Secretariat on the discussion which took place with respect to the Russian amendments and differences in principle. This report will make clear “the grave and fundamental differences, etc.”

(b) A report on the discussion of the Russian proposals of June 11, which it is expected will include the proposed Canadian resolution, copy of which is attached.¹ Herein you will note that this resolution states “that these proposals as they now stand and that the explanations given thereon, do not provide an adequate basis for the development of specific proposals for an effective system of international control of atomic energy.”

(c) The Foreword of the report is expected to contain the statement that the A.E.C. is continuing the development of specific proposals based on the principles of the first report of the Commission. The Soviet have clearly stated that these principles are not acceptable to them.

We believe that a report containing the statements listed in items (a), (b) and (c) above would satisfy the instructions given by you on August 11th and quoted in the first paragraph of this letter. If this is not your opinion, we would appreciate your prompt advice.

Sincerely yours, For the U.S. Representative to the United Nations:

Frederick Osborn

1. The attachment is substantially the same as Doc. AEC/C.2/73, adopted by Committee 2 on August 15; for text, see AEC, 2nd yr., Special Suppl., pp. 95–96.