330.13/11–451
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Ambassador at Large (Jessup)
In discussing with the Secretary today the handling of the Disarmament question in Committee I, I found that he had not been advised as to his participation in the Committee work. He is, however, quite prepared to undertake it. We talked about the kind of resolution which should emerge having in mind both the disarmament proposal and the report of the Committee of Twelve on the merger of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Commission on Conventional Armaments. I told him that one current plan was to deal with these matters in two separate resolutions with appropriate cross references. The Secretary thought it would be much better if we would have a single resolution which, following the pattern of an Act of Congress, might begin with a statement of principles. The equivalent of Title I might then be the establishment of the new commission, and Title II might contain the substance of the functions which the Commission is to carry out. He thought it would be disadvantageous to have to refer people later to two different resolutions on this subject when the question is asked what has the Delegation accomplished in this field. If the whole matter is covered in one resolution, this resolution could be reproduced for the use of NGO’s, etc., and could form an adequate record of what had been done on the whole problem. I told him we would work on this suggestion. I pointed out that we still face something of a problem with the French and the British in regard to the content of the disarmament resolution. It might be that we could not reach sufficient agreement with them to make a good showing in the type of resolution he had in mind.
Mr. Ferguson has agreed to jot down some notes before he leaves concerning the substantive points on which the Secretary might touch in his opening statement on the disarmament proposals in Committee I.