Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, National Security Policy; Arms Control and Disarmament, Volume III

211. Letter From Acting Secretary of State Herter to President Eisenhower⁰

Washington, March 28, 1959.

Dear Mr. President: At a meeting yesterday in the Department of State we had a useful discussion of the position that we should take in the Geneva nuclear test negotiations when they reconvene on April 13, 1959.¹ Mr. Quarles, Ambassador Wadsworth, Mr. McCone, Dr. Killian, Mr. Allen Dulles and Mr. Gordon Gray participated in this discussion and there seemed to be agreement on the following points:

1. We should go back to Geneva on April 13 and, in continuing the negotiations, press the Soviets further on their veto demands.

2. We cannot accept any agreement to ban underground tests which permits the Soviets to stop mobile on-site inspection by the veto.

3. If the Soviet position on the veto does not change, Prime Minister Macmillan and you might propose an initial agreement on banning atmospheric testing under necessary controls which would not require any significant measure of mobile inspection, if at all. This would be presented as the first step of a program of continued negotiation toward an agreement for ending all tests as rapidly as the political and technical problems can be resolved. A limited program for underground testing, perhaps under international participation, might be undertaken as part of this effort to see whether the problem of detecting underground tests might be simplified.

4. If the Soviets were to accept our position on the veto we would have to consider whether the control system, although admittedly not 100 per cent foolproof, provided a sufficient measure of deterrence to violation, or whether it would be necessary to press for a threshold on underground tests.

If these decisions have your approval, we will go ahead in the next few days to work out a more detailed plan of action consistent with these principles for early discussion with the United Kingdom in the hope that we will have a common position by April 13, 1959.²

Faithfully yours,

Christian A. Herter

0. Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Dulles–Herter Series, March 1959. Secret.
1. The meeting took place on March 26. A memorandum of conversation of that date is in Department of State, Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 64 D 199. See the Supplement.
2. The President wrote the following note at the bottom of the page: “O.K., D.E., 3/31/59.”