Office of the Historian

167. Memorandum of a Conversation, White House, Washington, December 26, 19561

Washington, December 26, 1956

SUBJECT

  • Nuclear Tests

PARTICIPANTS

  • The President
  • Mr. John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State
  • Brigadier General Andrew J. Goodpaster, The White House
  • Mr. Robert Murphy, Deputy Under Secretary of State
[Page 448]

The President referred to 25 nuclear tests proposed by Admiral Lewis Strauss of the Atomic Energy Commission starting May 1st, all of which were to take place in Nevada with no exceptions. He expressed some doubt as to the advisability of these tests. Practically all of these explosions would be small.

The Secretary said he saw no difficulty with tests contemplated for Nevada, mentioning that there recently had been tests inside the Soviet Union which had provoked little comment.

  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Dulles–Herter Series. Secret. Drafted by Murphy. Retyped in S/S–RO on December 29. A handwritten notation by Goodpaster at the end of the source text reads: “Revised version. Previous text destroyed (I destroyed cy #2 of 7, series A) G”. A memorandum from Greene to Goodpaster, December 31, regarding the December 26 memorandum of conversation reads:

    “We have revised the memorandum of conversation concerning nuclear tests, to take into account the corrections you telephoned to my office on Saturday [December 29]. A copy of the revision is enclosed.

    “All copies of the previous version have been recalled and destroyed.”

    (Ibid.)
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