71. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rusk to President Kennedy0
SUBJECT
- The Problem of a U.S. Initiative on “Fallout Testing” in a UN Forum Prior to the General Assembly
You have asked that we consider whether to do anything in the UN about “fallout testing” prior to the General Assembly.1
We already have requested inscription of a nuclear test ban item on the agenda of the General Assembly,2 and I believe it would not be advisable now to take another initiative on this subject in any UN forum prior to the opening of the session on September 19.
While there might have been some advantage to such an initiative during the period of September 1 to 2, the announcement of our intention to resume testing has dissipated this advantage. Furthermore, another factor militating against taking such an initiative is the need to retain maximum flexibility—and credibility—for ourselves should atmospheric tests prove necessary in our national security interest.
There also is the added consideration that we can expect the testing question to be considered early in the proceedings of the General Assembly. [Page 171] We already have had indications of a possible move to bring it up for substantive discussion within a week or two after the opening of the General Assembly.
I recommend that the United States not take an initiative in the UN for consideration of the problem of “fallout testing” prior to the beginning of the General Assembly session on September 19.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 700.5611/9-1461. No classification marking.↩
- President Kennedy made the request at a meeting on September 5. (Memorandum by Cleveland, September 5, attached to a memorandum from Battle to Bundy, September 6; ibid., 301/9-661) Additional information on this meeting is in Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House, pp. 482-484.↩
- See footnote 3, Document 83.↩
- Printed from a copy that indicates Rusk signed the original.↩