243. Memorandum of Conference With President Eisenhower0
OTHERS PRESENT
- Chairman McCone, General Goodpaster
[Here follows discussion of unrelated subjects. ]
Mr. McCone said he is concerned regarding the question of the threshold concept as it affects any suspension of atomic testing. The President said he has had word that the British take the stand that, if we are not successful in getting an agreement based on the threshold concept, they will settle for less. Mr. McCone said he is inclined to be very critical of the UK in this matter. They were opposed to a suspension of testing until they had completed the tests they were ready to conduct. Since that time, having received design information from us under the new law, they have been “living off of us” and have no need to continue testing themselves. Mr. McCone added that we had learned indirectly of a statement by a senior British official involved in this matter that if the United States were to resume testing, Great Britain would take the matter to the UN and join in condemning U.S. action. Initially the President did not recall having received this information previously. I reminded him that we had received it through very indirect means. The President expressed considerable displeasure at this British stand. He said that if we were able to get an agreement on the basis of the threshold concept we would simply say that below the threshold we will do whatever we decide to do.
Mr. McCone stated that with regard to underground tests he has a problem with his laboratories, the members of which are keen to resume testing. The President said he was aware of this but there are policy questions involved. Mr. McCone said he has given instructions for the digging of tunnels in Nevada as a means of being prepared for tests should they be reinstated. This does not of course prejudice the decision as to resuming them.
Mr. McCone commented on a matter he had discussed with Mr. Herter (and Mr. Herter had mentioned to the President yesterday).1 This is an apparent divergence between Emelyanov (who works directly under Khrushchev) and the Soviet negotiators in Geneva who are under [Page 836] Gromyko. Mr. McCone said he is willing to meet with Emelyanov to see if any way out of the impasse over the threshold concept can be found, provided Secretary Herter wants him to do so.
Mr. McCone next said that he is concerned over any thought of suspending the production of fissionable material in our atomic plants. Such a suspension is very hard to police. The President said he thought production, or curtailment of production, is not too difficult to police. Mr. McCone said it is not so difficult at any particular plant, but that it is difficult to be sure the inspection is comprehensive. He then went on to say that we know a great deal more about their atomic plants than they think we do. He suggested that we might offer to close down specific plants in our establishment of the same general power input as some of their plants, and ask them to close down specific plants in reciprocity. The President said he liked the idea suggesting for example that we could designate a plant of theirs in the Urals and say that if they will close that we will close an equivalent plant. Mr. McCone said the same could be done for their production faculties at Tomsk, and that we could shut down some of our facilities at Hanford. If this were done, we could then think of extending the measures to the “open skies” proposal to make the control more comprehensive. The President said the matter would simply be one of padlocking a plant and putting a party of as few as two men at each to see that it remained closed.
[Here follows discussion of unrelated subjects.]
Brigadier General, USA
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Eisenhower Diaries. Secret. Drafted by Goodpaster on February 3.↩
- See Document 242. McCone and Herter discussed their respective talks with the President in a telephone conversation, February 3 at 10:40 a.m. (Eisenhower Library, Herter Papers, Telephone Calls & Miscellaneous Memos) See the Supplement.↩