256. Editorial Note
After Glenn Seaborg had written his July 13, 1968, letter to President Johnson (Document 255), he sent it to ACDA Acting Director Fisher for possible inclusion with the draft Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Committee statement to be forwarded to the President. On the same afternoon Fisher telephoned Seaborg to say that in view of Seaborg’s letter, Secretary Rusk asked that a second version of a Presidential ENDC statement be drafted, offering the President a choice. The second version would not reiterate the concerns expressed in Seaborg’s letter but simply reference the fact that such offers had been made before. Fisher, DePalma (ACDA), and Allan Labowitz, Seaborg’s disarmament assistant, drafted an alternative statement the next day which, according to Seaborg, “merely recites previous U.S. statements regarding a comprehensive test ban and fissionable material cutoff but does not press for them.” (Seaborg, Journal, Volume 17, p. 47)
[Page 646]Under cover of a memorandum to President Johnson, July 15, Walt Rostow forwarded a July 15 memorandum from Secretary Rusk to President Johnson which attached a draft Presidential message to the resumption of the Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Committee the following day. This draft message contained bracketed language reviewing U.S. support for a verifiable comprehensive test ban and a cut-off of the production of fissionable materials. Secretary Rusk explained in his memorandum that he preferred to include the bracketed language, but then continued, “in view of the importance of having a Presidential statement at the opening of the ENDC and the difficulty of resolving conflicting views in the short time available, I recommend that you issue the statement with the bracketed language deleted. At the same time, however, I recommend that you authorize the delegation to the ENDC to reply in the negative if asked by the press or by other delegations whether the lack of any reference to these two items means a basic change in the U.S. position with respect to them.” (Johnson Library, National Security File, Subject File, Disarmament, ENDC, Vol. III, Box 13)
In his covering memorandum, Rostow advised President Johnson to “proceed, as Secretary Rusk recommends, with the bracketed language deleted.” The approval line, which reads “Statement cleared with bracketed language deleted,” is checked.
For text of the President’s ENDC statement, July 16, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1968-69, Book II, pages 815-817.