Editorial Note
During March and April 1954, Secretary Dulles began the implementation, both publicly and privately, of the “New Look” or “New Approach” policy regarding the “conventionality” of nuclear weaponry and its application to national defense commitments in Europe and the Western Hemisphere as first set forth in NSC series 151, 153, and 162 (see footnote 4, page 482). Under questioning at a press conference on March 16, Dulles stated that as a result of the NATO and Rio Pacts, the President had a right to order “instantaneous retaliation” [Page 498] against any attack on the United States or upon its allies in Europe and the Western Hemisphere, without prior consultation with Congress. The same day, Dulles released the text of an article entitled “Policy for Security and Peace” which was to appear in the April 1954 issue of the magazine Foreign Affairs. In the course of this article, Dulles pledged that the United States would not turn “every local war into a world war” in which “if there is a Communist attack somewhere in Asia, atom or hydrogen bombs will necessarily be dropped on the great industrial centers of China or Russia.” But the United States would pursue a policy which would “mean that the free world must maintain the collective means and be willing to use them in the way which most effectively makes aggression too risky and expensive to be tempting.” The text of the Dulles article is in the New York Times, March 17, page 4. Excerpts from the Dulles press conference are printed ibid., page 6, with a covering story by Elie Abel on page 1.
In a letter dated April 8 to John C. Hughes, the Permanent Representative on the North Atlantic Council, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Livingston T. Merchant reported that a statement was being prepared for Secretary Dulles to use at the forthcoming NATO Ministers meeting “on the general subject of NATO strategy and its relation to new weapons”. Merchant added that there had been no opportunity as yet to discuss the matter with Dulles, and consequently, no indication should as yet be made to other NATO countries that such a statement should be made. Merchant also indicated that the contents of the statement were being coordinated with the Department of Defense (740.5/4–854). In telegram Topol 1194 to Paris, April 9, Hughes was authorized to inform the North Atlantic Council that Secretary Dulles was willing to volunteer a general statement on United States security policy at the Ministerial meeting in the course of general discussion (740.5/4–954). Hughes responded in telegram Polto 1651 of April 15 that the Council had been so informed, and Hughes suggested that possibly a “general statement on nuclear weapons might be useful.” (740.5/4–1554) A memorandum from Leon W. Fuller of the Policy Planning Staff to Robert R. Bowie, Director of the Policy Planning Staff, dated April 16, indicated that drafting work was already underway on a “Statement to NAC on Use of A–H Weapons” (PPS files, lot 65 D 101, “L. Fuller Chron”).
Meanwhile, Secretary Dulles, accompanied by MacArthur and Merchant, traveled to London and Paris, April 11 to 15, for discussions concerning the situation in Indochina and Southeast Asia. While in London he spoke with Secretary Eden and other Foreign Office officials on the general subject of nuclear weapons and introduced “the entire subject of the tactical use of atomic weapons and fitting them into our military planning and strategy”. The memorandum of this conversation is printed infra. Further documentation on the Secretary’s [Page 499] trip to London and Paris, April 11–15, 1954 is printed in volume XIII, Part 1, pages 1307 ff.