Presidential Papers, Doc#223 To Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss, 2 July 1957. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Doc #224

Document #223; July 2, 1957
To Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss
Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series: AEC
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVIII - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace
Part II: Civil Rights; June 1957 to September 1957
Chapter 4: "Logic and reason must operate gradually"

 

Dear Lewis: I should like you to read the attached letter and examine the list of names of various scientists, suggested by Mr. Cousins.1

Because I did have in Dr. Lawrence, Dr. Teller and Dr. Mills, I rather think it might be a good idea for me to pick two or three scientists who represent a contrary view and ask them in for a visit. I see no need for asking Norman Cousins to accompany them.2

Might I have your comments?3 As ever

1 Magazine editor Norman Cousins had asked Eisenhower to meet with a small group of scientists who had no affiliation with the Atomic Energy Commission in order to discuss the dangers of radioactive fallout from atomic testing (for background see no. 210). "The impression has been created that only scientists connected with the A.E.C. have had a chance to present their evidence to you," Cousins had written. "I believe it would be only fair for a small group to be given the privilege of an audience with you in order to lay before you such facts as seem pertinent to the issue." Cousins had included a list of nine men and had offered to arrange a meeting with Eisenhower and any of the scientists (Cousins to Eisenhower, June 27, 1957, AWF/N).

2 On June 24 Edward Teller (Ph.D. University of Leipzig 1930), Ernest Orlando Lawrence (Ph.D. Yale 1925), and Mark Muir Mills (Ph.D. California Institute of Technology 1948), all from the University of California Radiation Laboratory, had met with Eisenhower to discuss the progress that they and their colleagues had made in developing weapons that would limit radioactive fallout to the area of the initial blast. According to Secretary Dulles, the meeting had made "a deep impression" on Eisenhower and caused him to question the advisability of test suspension (State, Foreign Relations, 1955 - 1957, vol. XX, Regulation of Armaments; Atomic Energy, pp. 638 - 42, 649 - 50; Robert A. Divine, Blowing on the Wind: The Nuclear Test Ban Debate 1954 - 1960 [New York, 1978], pp. 148 - 50; and Hewlett and Holl, Atoms for Peace and War, pp. 400 - 01; see also Telephone conversations, Dulles and Strauss, June 24 and 27, 1957, Dulles Papers, Telephone Conversations).

3 Cousins did not understand the purpose of the meeting with the three physicists, Strauss would reply. "You did not invite them and they did not ask for the appointment." The scientists were in Washington to testify regarding nuclear weapons before the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy, Strauss said, and a committee member had requested the presidential meeting. "Since none of the persons suggested by Mr. Cousins have access to the national weapons program, it appears that Mr. Cousins has assumed that Drs. Lawrence, Teller, and Mills had come to see you to discuss the controversial issues that have been raised by Mr. Cousins and others on the biological effects of fall-out from weapons tests. Of course, this was not the case." If the President agreed to such a meeting, Strauss cautioned, the public could doubt "your confidence in the competence of the very eminent men who are devoting their talents and reputations to a vital, though presently unpopular, service to the Government" (Strauss to Eisenhower, July 3, 1957, AWF/A: AEC; see also Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. XIII, 1957, pp. 795 - 96; and Lewis L. Strauss, Men and Decisions [New York, 1962], pp. 418 - 19. For Eisenhower's reply to Cousins see no. 231.

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss, 2 July 1957. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 223. 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/second-term/documents/223.cfm

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