263. Memorandum of Conference With President Eisenhower0
OTHERS PRESENT
- Secretary Herter
- Colonel Eisenhower
- Part time:
- General Twining
- Mr. Bohlen
- Mr. Gerard Smith
- Dr. Moos
[Here follows discussion unrelated to disarmament.]
At this time the group was joined by Mr. Bohlen, Mr. Gerard Smith, and Dr. Moos. Dr. Moos pointed out that the speech had now been reduced to 23 pages.1 In answer to the President’s question regarding the views of the JCS, Mr. Smith said that he had received the gist of the JCS comments on Friday,2 had talked it over, and had straightened out most of their objections.
At this time the President instructed me to remind him to insist on procedures in which JCS recommendations on international affairs go through the Secretary of Defense to the Department of State and are channeled by them to the President. He recognizes the JCS are separate from the Office of the Secretary of Defense for military matters. On international matters their views should come to him through State. Mr. Herter assured the President again that the comments of the JCS had been addressed to the first draft of the speech and had subsequently been ironed out. At this time the President sent for General Twining to join the group.
Discussion then ensued regarding the term, “verification of space craft” in the President’s speech. The wording which the President visualizes would be “all launchings of space craft should be verified in advance by the UN.” Here the difficulty lay in the fear of the JCS that important projects such as Samos would be subject to Soviet inspections. After discussion, it was concluded that Samos activities apply to exploration of our own earth and therefore are not subject to verification and disapproval. This prohibition would apply only to weapons of mass destruction placed in the satellite.
[Page 910]The President then expressed concern over the virtue of the ground inspection portion of the speech. He understood that the idea includes voluntary employment of other nations’ representatives to prove that any given nation is not preparing for war. This could be done by showing that cities are not being evacuated, that governmental leaders are remaining in their offices, and the like. The President feels that such measures would apply primarily to a 1942 war. He quoted the expression “the nakedness of the battlefield” and said it would be impossible for observers of this kind to detect the real status of alert posture. He pointed out that our bombers remain always on a 15-minute alert. Mr. Smith pointed out the voluntary nature of this procedure as an advantage to a country to prove its non-alert status. He felt there is nothing to lose by such a proposal. He pointed out further that a strong effort is being made to find something new regarding mutual inspection in accordance with the President’s promise made in Paris.
The President suggested an approach which emphasized that in 1955 the Soviet Premier had proposed ground observers. The President had proposed open skies. This had been done on a bilateral basis. The President now proposes that both methods be adopted by the UN so that each nation can prove its peaceful intent and receive assurances of the peaceful intent of the other.
Mr. Smith expressed the view that the aerial inspection idea is now obsolete. It will indicate little regarding war preparations. He quoted Mr. Bohlen agreeing with him; however, Mr. Bohlen said that the issue was a political one rather than a technical one. He felt the President should say it is now feasible technically to detect preparations for war. The question is whether nations will permit it.
Secretary Herter then suggested mentioning the fliers of the RB–47 crew still held in the USSR. The President seemed to agree, and the meeting closed.
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Eisenhower Diaries. Secret. Drafted by John Eisenhower.↩
- Reference is to Eisenhower’s speech to the U.N. General Assembly; see footnote 1, Document 262.↩
- See Document 262.↩