Office of the Historian

66. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between Secretary of State Rusk and the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)0

Washington, September 5, 1961, 12:55 p.m.

TELEPHONE CALL FROM MR. BUNDY

B said there appears to be another bang1 and the Pres’ patience is at an end and he proposes to announce he is resuming underground testing. B read the proposed statement.2 The Sec said on the timing wait until morning to get the Belgrade people out of town.3 If that is possible he would like to take a look at it. B asked something about are we dealing with a slight difference between what he said and what he actually said???4 B said the 9th and he said immediately. The Sec said that is not what is bothering him—he is concerned about announcing testing and this order that preparations be made for laboratory and underground testing. Let that announcement stand and as far as the bang is concerned do it only when it makes sense from a testing point of view. B said it is clear in his mind this is the thing to do. He feels his flank needs to be guarded by this. The Sec said to say preparations are being taken immediately for an early resumption of underground testing not involving fall out. B asked what is the argument. The Sec said they can come back and will say we have been preparing for months. The argument is if they should come back in a day or so saying so—then they can say what they are doing now is playing the line that this is a pretext for resuming underground testing. The Sec said it could be done for the morning papers. B dictated the statement.5

  1. Source: Department of State, Rusk Files: Lot 72 D 192, Telephone Conversations. No classification marking. Drafted by Bernau.↩
  2. Seaborg indicates that this third Soviet nuclear test was not detected until after the meeting described in Document 64. (Journal, vol. 2, p. 132)↩
  3. Not found.↩
  4. The Belgrade Conference adjourned on September 6. For the communiqué, see Documents on Disarmament, 1961, pp. 374-384.↩
  5. As on the source text.↩
  6. Not found. For text of the statement by President Kennedy on the resumption of underground nuclear tests, released by the White House at 5 p.m. on September 5, see Documents on Disarmament, 1961, p. 355.↩