<--PREV Doc #811  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #813 Document #812; April 1, 1954 To Winston Spencer Churchill Series: EM, AWF, Dulles-Herter Series The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XV - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part V: Maintaining "a united defense"; April 1954 to August 1954 Chapter 10: Losing the war "they could not win"   Dear Winston:1 I have your letter received today.2 I give you quickly my reaction which on both counts is affirmative. The proposed text referred to in paragraph one is quite in order from our standpoint.3 With respect to the matter dealt with in your second, third and fourth paragraph, I can only say that I am, to use your word, "content" with the course you plan.4 Of course some of this history is not fully known to me, but I certainly would not feel disposed to interpose any objection.5 I am confident you have weighed this matter with the wisdom which you always bring to bear on these momentous matters. Harold Stassen has told me of his talks, and I share your judgment of the outcome.6 With warm regard 1 Secretary Dulles drafted this reply after consultation with AEC Chairman Strauss (Telephone conversation, Dulles to Eisenhower, Apr. 1, 1954, AWF/D). 2 Churchill had written in reply to Eisenhower's letter of March 29 (no. 805), in which the President had agreed to the release of information regarding the castle series of thermonuclear tests recently conducted in the Pacific (Churchill to Eisenhower, [Apr. 1, 1954], AWF/D-H). 3 The Prime Minister was to face the House of Commons on April 5 in a "full dress debate" on atomic energy matters, particularly the constraints placed by the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 on the disclosure of atomic information by the United States "even to their closest friends" (see Hewlett and Holl, Atoms for Peace and War, 1953-1961, pp. 113-14; Churchill and Gilbert, Churchill, vol. VIII, Never Despair, 1945-1965, pp. 965-68; New York Times, Apr. 6, 1954). In order to provide the House members with information regarding the Pacific tests, Churchill had prepared a response divulging the details of two flights Royal Air Force planes had made to collect scientific data from the test sites. 4 Facing strong opposition from those members of Parliament who held him and his government responsible for Britain's failure to obtain joint authority over the use of atomic weapons, the Prime Minister had wanted to make public the 1943 agreement made between President Roosevelt and himself in Quebec. This agreement had prevented the use of atomic weapons against a third party without the mutual consent of the United States and Great Britain and had provided for the consistent exchange of information. For background on U.S.-U.K. atomic cooperation see Galambos, Chief of Staff, no. 509; Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, vol. I, The New World, 1939-1946 (University Park, Pa., 1962); and Strauss, Men and Decisions, pp. 369-74. The text of the Quebec Agreement is in U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, The Conferences at Washington and Quebec, 1943 (Washington, D.C., 1970), pp. 1117-19. "I feel I have a right to disclose this document which I signed with your predecessor eleven years ago, and which has since been superseded by other treaties," Churchill had written, but "it would be an encouragement to me to hear from you that you are content with the course I am taking." Churchill's speech would result in a "storm of indignation among Labor MPs" and accusations from the press that the Prime Minister had turned the hydrogen bomb debate into a partisan issue (Aldrich to Dulles, Apr. 6, 1954, AWF/I: Churchill). 5 On the cover letter from the British Embassy accompanying Churchill's message Eisenhower had written, "Answer is yes, DE" (Scott to Eisenhower, Apr. 1, 1954, AWF/D-H). 6 FOA Director Stassen had been in London since March 27 to discuss the relaxation of restrictions on trade with the Soviet Union and the Communist countries of Eastern Europe. For background see no. 782. "Our talks with Stassen went off very well," Churchill had written, "and will, I am sure, produce fruitful and harmless results." Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Winston Spencer Churchill, 1 April 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 812. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/812.cfm <--PREV Doc #811  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #813

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