Office of the Historian

85. Letter From the Representative to the United Nations (Stevenson) to President Kennedy0

New York, October 19, 1961.

Dear Mr. President: I am disturbed at the indications that the U.S. is contemplating a new series of tests at the Eniwetok Proving Grounds.

I believe any such tests in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands would be a grievous error for the following reasons:

(1)
This is not American territory. We are merely trustees. The inhabitants are Micronesians and are not American citizens.
(2)
We are obligated one day to give these people an opportunity to choose their political future. The earlier tests were bitterly resented by the islanders (some of whom had to be displaced from their homes, while others suffered physical illness from unexpected fall-out). Since then progress has been made in developing a friendly attitude toward eventual integration with the U.S. A new series of tests, or even an indication that the U.S. was seriously contemplating such tests, would create bitterness and hostility toward the U.S., thus hurting our long-range strategic interests.
(3)
Even if there were no question whatever as to whether we have the legal right to conduct such tests in the Trust Territory, the moral question is even more serious and should really control.
(4)
Entirely aside from the legal and moral questions, however, it is certain that to resume tests in the Trust Territory would cause us great damage here at the U.N., even among our friends and allies. It would sully our recent clean record on nuclear testing and would provide the Soviets with a priceless red herring.

I would strongly urge, both from the point of view of our long-range strategic interests and from the standpoint of our international relations, that the possibility of carrying out such tests elsewhere than in the Trust Territory be reexamined.

Faithfully yours,1

Adlai E. Stevenson2
  1. Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Subjects Series, Nuclear Weapons Testing 10/16-29/61. Secret.↩
  2. Wiesner stated in a memorandum to Kennedy of October 24 that he had reviewed Stevenson’s letter and did not “believe that use of the Eniwetok Proving Grounds is required for any of the atmospheric tests that are now being considered within the Pentagon.” Some could be conducted instead at Christmas Island, which was under joint U.S.-U.K. jurisdiction, and some at the Nevada Test Site. Wiesner recommended that planning and preparations for atmospheric testing proceed on the assumption that Eniwetok would not be used. (Ibid.)↩
  3. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩