Department of State Atomic Energy Files
The United States Representative on the Atomic Energy Commission (Baruch) to the Under Secretary of State (Acheson)
My Dear Mr. Acheson: Yesterday, I tried to get you on the phone, and in turn, doubtless, you tried to reach me. What I wanted to discuss with you was the delay in answering the question contained in the letter of September 17, to the President and Secretary of State, asking for a decision as to the course that should be taken.
The Soviets have taken advantage of our indecision, have moved in, and now apparently have become the advocates of disarmament. As you may recall, I strongly advocated that we should do it first. I refer you to the letters addressed to you on June 2339 and July 9,40 and your subsequent replies.
It is disheartening, to say the least, to see the moves that can and so apparently must be made, only to find that somebody else makes them, and we are fighting rear-guard actions. We cannot deal with this matter with dignity only. We are dealing with police court lawyers, to whom the truth is of no importance and the only goal is [Page 983] their particular selfish ends, without reference to the rest of the world.41
Sincerely yours,
- Not printed.↩
- Ante, p. 860.↩
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Baruch concluded a memorandum to Senator Austin, also dated November 2, as follows:
↩“I warned the State Department on June 23, that the Soviets would be likely to make this latest move, and I wanted to make it first.
There must be closer coordination of the work in the United Nations. The present disjointed method cannot bring results, even with all the ability and good will of our delegations.” (USUN Files)