Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, General; The United Nations, Volume I

SPA Files: Lot 428

Memorandum by the Associate Chief of the Division of International Security Affairs (Blaisdell)

secret

[Washington,] October 17, 1947.

At 3:50 this afternoon, Mr. Lovett called Mr. Rusk and me to his office to inform us of the results of the meeting he had with Messrs. Forrestal and Bard and Generals Eisenhower and Gruenther,¹ regarding the US position in the Commission for Conventional Armaments.²

Mr. Lovett said that he came back with the documentation provided by SPA, but not with the letter to the Secretary from Mr. Forrestal,³ containing the views of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the Bard Plan.⁴ The letter is to be re-written after consultation between General Gruenther and Mr. Rusk.

Mr. Lovett said he had stated that there are three things we do not want to have to do.

1. Veto or obstruct a plan proposed by another member

2. Be responsible for breaking up the negotiations in the CCA

3. Accept any proposition with regard to information and verification which would react to the detriment of our position on inspection as regards atomic weapons

Noting that the Commission for Conventional Armaments is not a Commission for Disarmament, Mr. Lovett stated that he had proposed that the United States develop a plan for the exchange of information on conventional armaments and armed forces, with appropriate verification, for possible use by the CCA in formulating practical proposals for the regulation of conventional armaments. He said that we wished to stay away from “disarmament”. Mr. Blaisdell said that a plan developed along such lines would approximate the one which the British have suggested.⁵ Mr. Lovett said that that might be true, except for the verification aspect.

Mr. Rusk inquired if the procedure proposed in his memorandum of today to Mr. Lovett⁶ was acceptable, to which Mr. Lovett replied in the affirmative.

1. Maj. Gen. Alfred M. Gruenther, Director, Joint Staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
2. No record of this meeting has been found in the files of the Department of State. A brief description exists in Walter Millis, ed., The Forrestal Diaries (New York, Viking Press, 1951), pp. 326–327.
3. October 10, p. 679.
4. RAC D–9/1a, July 16, p. 562.
5. Regarding the proposal contemplated by the British Delegation, see Bard’s memorandum to Austin, August 4, p. 588.
6. Supra.