<--PREV Doc #363  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #365 Document #364; October 1, 1957 To Nobusuke Kishi Series: EM, AWF, International Series: Japan ; Category: Cable The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVIII - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part III: The Space Age Begins; October 1957 to January 1958 Chapter 6: Sputnik and "the fears of our own people"   Dear Mr. Prime Minister:1 I have for a long time given serious and thoughtful consideration to the issue you raise in your communication of September 24 regarding the continuation of nuclear testing, which has been the subject of discussion between us in the past.2 Unfortunately, I have been able to reach no other conclusion than that for the time being and in the present circumstances, the security of the United States, and, I believe, that of the free world, depends to a great degree upon what we learn from the testing of nuclear weapons. We are at a stage when testing is required for the development of important defensive uses of nuclear weapons, particularly against missiles, submarines, and aircraft, as well as to reduce further the fallout yield from nuclear weapons. To stop these tests in the absence of effective limitations on nuclear weapons production and on other elements of armed strength and without the opening up of all principal nations to a measure of inspection as a safeguard against surprise attack in which nuclear weapons could be used is a sacrifice which would be dangerous to accept.3 We are aware of the preoccupations with the question of health hazards connected with nuclear testing.4 We believe that these are ill founded. However, we have pledged to conduct those tests which may be necessary only in such a manner as will keep world radiation from rising to more than a small fraction of the levels which might be hazardous. Also, as you know, the General Assembly has established a scientific committee to study this problem. This committee is due to report by July 1958, and its findings will no doubt be fully debated in the United Nations.5 We believe that nuclear tests can and should be suspended if other limitations of the type I have mentioned are agreed upon. Accordingly, the United States has joined with the Governments of the United Kingdom, France, and Canada in presenting proposals which provide for the suspension of testing in this context.6 Of special importance, I think, is the proposal that further production of fissionable materials for weapons purposes be stopped and a beginning be made in the reduction of existing weapons stockpiles. We believe that if this proposal is widely supported in the General Assembly, it will be accepted by the Soviet Union. In this event, we would be assured that atomic energy in the future would be devoted to peaceful purposes everywhere in the world.7 Sincerely 1 Kishi, formerly Japan's Foreign Minister, had become Prime Minister in February 1957. 2 Kishi had asked Eisenhower to support a proposal, submitted by the Japanese delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, to suspend all nuclear testing for one year. Such a decision, he said, would enable disarmament negotiations to proceed without countries "repeating their tests, creating a vicious cycle of the most regrettable kind, which does nothing to lessen the distrust among nations" (Kishi to Eisenhower, Sept. 24, 1957, AWF/D-H; see also State, Foreign Relations, 1955 - 1957, vol. XX, Regulation of Armaments; Atomic Energy, pp. 345 - 46; for background on the London disarmament negotiations see no. 217). Secretary Dulles had recommended that Eisenhower reply personally to Kishi, due to "the extreme Japanese sensitivity on this question and the importance of securing Japanese support for our armament position" (Dulles to Eisenhower, Sept. 28, 1957, AWF/D-H). The State Department drafted this response. 3 Eisenhower made two "minor changes" in the preceding sentence, which, he told Dulles, "make clearer the intent" (ibid.). 4 See, for example, nos. 223 and 231 on the dangers of radiation. 5 On December 3, 1955, the United Nations General Assembly had unanimously adopted a resolution establishing the multinational committee. The governments of eleven nations, including Japan, had each appointed one scientist to the committee (State, Foreign Relations, 1955 - 1957, vol. XX, Regulation of Armaments; Atomic Energy, pp. 234 - 35, 236 - 39). 6 The United States, Great Britain, France, and Canada had presented the Western proposals to the Soviet Union on August 29. The plan included a prohibition on the future production of fissionable materials for anything but peaceful purposes, the placement of some armaments under international supervision, the cessation of nuclear weapons testing for one year, a ban on the use of nuclear weapons except in self-defense against an aggressor, and the establishment of an inspection system to prevent surprise attacks (State, Foreign Relations, 1955 - 1957, vol. XX, Regulation of Armaments; Atomic Energy, pp. 620 - 26, 695 - 97, 703 - 5, 710 - 18; see also Dulles, Memorandum of Conversation, Oct. 1, 1957, Dulles Papers, White House Memoranda Series). 7 For developments see no. 494. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Cable To Nobusuke Kishi, 1 October 1957. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 364. 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/364.cfm <--PREV Doc #363  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #365

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