Office of the Historian

255. Letter From the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (Seaborg) to President Johnson1

Washington, July 13, 1968.

Dear Mr. President:

I am writing to comment on the proposed Presidential message recommended by ACDA to Secretary of State Rusk and to you for use at the forthcoming opening of the ENDC.2

I and my fellow Commissioners have problems with Presidential reiteration or endorsement at this time of two of the measures which are suggested as part of the disarmament agenda.

We feel that it would be a mistake to reiterate at this time our previously stated aim to “seek to achieve the discontinuance of all test explosions [Page 645] of nuclear weapons for all time.” We feel strongly that this is unrealistic in view of the absolute necessity for underground testing in order to meet our announced commitments in the field of strategic offensive weapons such as Poseidon and Minute Man, and strategic defensive weapons such as the Sentinel (ABM).

Our second item of concern is a Presidential request at this time to reach agreement to halt all production of fissionable material for use in making nuclear weapons. As you know, we have shut down already seven out of fourteen of our plutonium production reactors and reduced our uranium-235 production by two-thirds. At a minimum, this would require further careful study; the last comprehensive study on a government-wide basis was made in 1964. If something needed to be said on this subject at this time, credit could be taken for what we have already done.

Perhaps these measures should be studied by the Committee of Principals before any further public statement is made on them.3

Respectfully,

Glenn T. Seaborg 4
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Subject File, Disarmament, ENDC, vol. III, Box 13. Confidential.↩
  2. Seaborg wrote this letter after Fisher informed him by phone at 10:45 a.m. the same day that he was going to recommend to President Johnson that he include in his message to the opening of the ENDC “a plea for a comprehensive test ban treaty and a complete cutoff of production of fissionable material for nuclear weapons.” Fisher, who already knew of the AEC concerns in these areas, agreed that Seaborg would write an accompanying statement giving the AEC’s point of view. (Seaborg, Journal, Vol. 17, p. 47) The letter printed here is this statement.↩
  3. Regarding the President’s decision on his ENDC statement, see Document 256.↩
  4. Printed from a copy that indicates Seaborg signed the original.↩