Presidential Papers, Doc#395 Memorandum. Secret To Charles Douglas Jackson, 24 August 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Doc #396

Document #395; August 24, 1953
To Charles Douglas Jackson
Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series:Candor ; Category: Memorandum. Secret
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIV - The Presidency: The Middle Way
Part II: Settling into "the long pull"; May 1953 to August 1953
Chapter 5: "So much to do in the world"

 

I have done some revising of the draft speech on atomic energy (attached).1 While it is still far from being a finished document, won't you please look it over as it is now, and carry it the next step forward?2

(I didn't read this draft after it was retyped.)

1 Throughout much of the year the President had been concerned about arms reduction and the related need to develop mutual trust among nations. On February 25 the National Security Council had discussed at length the report of a State Department panel of consultants on disarmament; the panel's first recommendation was the adoption of a "policy of candor" to keep the American people informed of the dangers inherent in the nuclear arms race (NSC meeting minutes, AWF/NSC; see also Richard G. Hewlett and Jack M. Holl, Atoms for Peace and War [Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1989], pp. 43-44). Using Stalin's death as an opportunity to take the initiative, Eisenhower had spoken before the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 16. One of his proposals was the "international control of atomic energy to promote its use for peaceful purposes only and to insure the prohibition of atomic weapons" (Public Papers of the Presidents: Eisenhower, 1953, p. 185; for background on the preparation of the speech see Hughes, Ordeal of Power, pp. 102-13). The NSC again discussed the disarmament issue and the disclosure of information about atomic weapons at its meeting on May 27 (see no. 211).

The President had agreed with the idea of having an informed public, but he had expressed concern for the security risks involved in the release of information. He wanted any speech to the American people to place the emphasis on "vigilance and sobriety, not on panic." He also recommended that the term thermonuclear be eliminated from all future official statements, for security as well as psychological reasons. Eisenhower had asked that Jackson outline an "opening-gun" speech for his approval before he would agree to the "policy of candor." "The subject of the atomic threat," he said, "ought to be fitted into a speech which had a larger umbrella than the A-bomb and atomic warfare" (NSC meeting minutes, AWF/NSC).

2 The draft Eisenhower mentions was the third of many produced for his approval throughout the summer. The proposed speech emphasized the role that the public could play in preserving peace and promised to provide information from key officials on international and domestic problems as they directly affected the nation's safety. "Undue secrecy must be overthrown," the draft read, "for in addition to fearing the known, it is unfair for the American public to be fearing unnecessarily the unknown." The speech described the country's atomic strength and the measures taken to ensure continental defense. Eisenhower referred to the many years he had "spent in studying and practicing war" and closed by reiterating his resolve to spend the rest of his life in preventing it (AWF/A: Candor). Eisenhower later commented that the draft speeches would have left the American people "with only a new terror, not a new hope." He continued to ask Jackson to "tone it down" (Eisenhower, Mandate for Change, p. 252; see a1so Ambrose, Eisenhower, vol. II, The President, p. 133).

At this same time the President began looking for a new approach to the disarmament problem, one that the Russians could accept. The idea that both the Soviet Union and the United States might donate equal amounts of fissionable material to be used for peaceful purposes took shape, and on September 10 Eisenhower asked Special Assistant Robert Cutler to relay his idea to Jackson and Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Strauss (see no. 640; State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. II, National Security Affairs, pt. 2, p. 1213; see also Strauss, Men and Decisions, pp. 356-57). "Operation Candor" thus would become "Operation Wheaties," as Jackson, Strauss, and others held a regular series of breakfast meetings throughout the fall of 1953 to incorporate the plan into a new disarmament speech. This proposal could, Jackson said, "not only be the most important pronouncement ever made by any President of the United States, it could also save mankind" (Jackson to Eisenhower, Oct. 2, 1953, AWF/A: Candor). For further developments see no. 598.

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. Memorandum. Secret To Charles Douglas Jackson, 24 August 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 395. 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/395.cfm

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