Office of the Historian

53. Letter From the Secretary of State to the Representative at the United Nations (Lodge)1

Washington, August 12, 1955.

Dear Cabot: Thank you for your letter of July 29, 19552 concerning the relationship of recent Soviet proposals to the draft Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency. I hope the following comment may be helpful in making preparations for the next General Assembly.

It is United States policy to have the Soviets adhere to the Statute if that can be accomplished without compromising either our national security or the President’s objective to establish a genuinely effective agency to promote the peaceful uses of the atom. The differences between the recent Soviet proposals set forth in their memorandum of [Page 171] July 18, 19553 and the provisions of the draft Statute do not seem impossible of reconciliation provided the Soviets are sincerely interested in joining an effective agency. As you know, we are awaiting a Soviet reply to our note of July 29, 1955,4 a copy of which you have. The reply of the Soviets should help to clarify some of the ambiguities in their memorandum of July 18 as to the bona fides of their intentions towards the Agency.

Our note of July 29 was drafted on the basis that we would adhere to the course of action for distributing the draft Statute worked out prior to the receipt of the Soviet memorandum and which was outlined in Mr. Christopher Phillips’ letter to you of July 29, 1955.5

Unless the Soviet reply should indicate that general distribution of the draft Statute would jeopardize the prospects for an early reconciliation of our differences with the Soviets relative to the Agency, we still plan to make the draft available for comment to all States eligible for Agency membership about August 21,6 immediately after the Geneva Conference on atomic energy. This date would permit interested countries to consider the draft well in advance of the opening of the General Assembly.

Your comments are always welcome, and we will keep you informed of any developments necessitating a change of the policy I have outlined.

Sincerely yours,

John Foster Dulles7
  1. Source: Department of State, Atomic Energy Files: Lot 57 D 688, IAEA—Exchange of Notes. Top Secret. Drafted by David H. McKillop, Office of the Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Atomic Energy Affairs.↩
  2. Not printed. (Ibid.)↩
  3. For text, see Department of State Bulletin, October 22, 1956, pp. 624–625.↩
  4. Document 49.↩

  5. Not found in Department of State files, but a letter dated July 25 from Phillips to Lodge, reads in part:

    “Plans for the distribution of the Statute are being finalized along the following lines. The United States will distribute the present Statute of the Agency, not including, however, Annex II, which lists the members of the First Board, to all states now eligible for membership in the Agency at an appropriate date during the month of August. The exact date of distribution will be determined in consultation with the Atomic Energy Commission in the light of developments at the Geneva Conference on Peaceful Uses and the current state of our negotiating situation vis-à-vis the Soviet Union on the Agency. It is expected that plans for distribution will probably be announced at Geneva either during or immediately after the Peaceful Uses Conference. The Statute will be distributed by the Department to the Embassies in Washington for comment and simultaneously will be circulated for information by the Secretary General to the Delegations in New York. Naturally the Secretary General would have to be furnished a copy of the Statute for his information in sufficient time to arrange the distribution in New York.

    “The question of whether or not the Secretary General can be furnished a copy of the Statute in advance of the Soviet Union will, of course, depend on developments in our negotiating situation with the Soviets on this matter.” (Department of State, Atomic Energy Files: Lot 57 D 688, IAEA—Exchange of Notes)

    ↩
  6. The United States distributed the draft Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency to other members of the United Nations and specialized agencies on August 22. For text, see Department of State Bulletin, October 24, pp. 666–672.↩
  7. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩