415. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to Secretary of State Rusk1
SUBJECT
- UN Outer Space Activities
We have been very slow in responding to your memorandum to the President dated February 2, 1961, which he handed to me for consideration, in the light of his State of the Union Message and its proposal of joint US-Soviet cooperation in space activities.
Since your memorandum was prepared, events in the United Nations, and in particular the Soviet Union’s attitude toward that organization, have raised a question over here as to whether we really want to take active steps in that particular forum on this particular issue, with the Soviet Union, at this time. My own feeling is that the President would be reluctant to see us move in this direction now.
In our planning meeting with George McGhee, it was agreed that Jerry Wiesner should be asked to take the lead in planning on the general problem of relations with the Soviet Union in this and other scientific fields, and I believe he is at work on this business now, in cooperation with Whitman and others in the Department of State. Unless you press again, therefore, I think we might wait until we hear from this group.
Obviously, if you people feel that this matter is more urgent and that we have not understood it correctly, the matter can be put to the President again.