I I no nor TYPE IN nus space Authorityj __ IL seems Security Classi cation 70d 7 6 FOREIGN SERVICE DESPATCH If g mom DUBLJI my 3% 21 To run DEPARTMENT 01 STATE WASHINGTON WMEJSSP 3 E 5 3 mar subtel 17 August 5 1959 CURY110 1 fax a Le 6 gm FE A 5 95 6 2 52 Emmy 0 527 10 x4 HEC SUBJECT Iri sh Draft Resolution on Nuclear Club Revision No 2 At the request of Mr Frank AIKEN Minister for External Affairs the writer called at that Department at 2 50 p m on August 5 1959 The main purpose of the interview was to present Revision No 2 dated August 4 1959 to his Provisional Draft Resolution on Control and Manufacture of Nuclear Weapons which the Irish Delegation plans to submit to the United Nations General Assembly in September Revision No 2 dated August 4 1959 is quoted below full i cLeoaszw emr SECRET The General Assembly the danger that an increase in the number of States possessing nuclear weapons may occur aggravating international tensions and the difficulty of maintaining world peace and thus rendering more difficult the attainment of general disarmament agreement Convinced for this reason of the urgent importance of achieving an international agreement whereby the powers at present producing nuclear weapons would refrain from handing over the control of such weapons to any nation not at present possessing them and whereby the powers not at present possessing such weapons would refrain from manufacturing them Reguests the four member nations which participated in the Geneva Conference of Foreign Secretaries to consider the question including the problems of inspection and control involved with a view to achieving such an agreement and to report to the General Or Reguesta the Disarmament Commission or any machinery which may be set up to replace it to consider the question including the problems of inspection and control involved with a view to achieving such an aaeement and to report to the next sessi of th I Laud 1 REPORTER The action once must return this permanent record copy to tiles with an endorsement ACTION COPY DEPARTMENT OF WW MINE 699 '8 ll99 DECLASSIFIED Authority 53930qu SECRET I End Elsi-st mhun Deep Prom _Iluhl Ln It will be noted that the first two paragraphs are identical with those in Revision No 1 dated July 16 1959 and tint the amendments are made in the new alternative action paragraphs Most of the 45-minute discussion was on the subject of this Nuclear Club proposal Mr Aiken indicated that he had made a mistake in his previous draft in his reference to the nuclear discussions at Geneva in that France is not participating and that it has always been his intention that France should be the fourth and last member of his nuclear club His emphasis on this point no doubt arises from the recent 2-day debate in the Dail when he submitted the estimates for his Department wherein his nuclear club proposal was criticised mainly by his opponents because of his failure to include France in his original draft In emphasizing this point i e that he had always intended to include France the writer should record that this is true at least insofar as it concerns his private discussions with the writer dating back to his return from the General Assembly in 1958 Mr Aiken went on to explain that he 1nd long felt that it was necessary to get a kind of an Executive Committee in the UN apart from the Security Council and he believed that the Foreign Secretaries of the four powers meeting at Geneva could evolve into such a vehicle if the General Assembly were to assign certain responsibilities to them He indicated therefore that the revised language of his draft was in line with his thinking in general on this matter Mr Aiken indicated considerable annoyance with some of the arguments which Mr Ward Counselor of Embassy had presented to him as instructed in the Department's telegram No 4 of July 15 lie was particularly annoyed by the statement that the Irish resolution would tend to place the United States on the same plane as the Soviets pointing out that this could never be the Irish position as evidenced by the speeches he had made in the UN denouncing the Soviet actions in Hungary and his recent statement denouncing them with respect to Tibet He further observed that the argument that it furnished the Soviets with useful propaganda opportunities was quite meaningless insofar as he could not discern that they needed any opportunities which we had not furnished them in profusion or which they could not contrive for themselves He further observed that in his opinion there was no system of inspection and control that could be 10% perfect and that we should be willing to accept a reasonable system in the knowledge that perfection was unattainable The writer made reference to the Department's position with respect to the nuclear club plan as stated in Deptel Ho 58 of August 4 1959 to USUR Mr Aiken stated that he had received this informtion from the Irish UH Delegation Mr Aiken then made a general statement in which he expressed the urgency which attaches to the matter of obtaining agreement with respect to nuclear weapons He is convinced that when small powers which do not have the responsibilities attaching to leadership of the large powers obtain nuclear SECREP I DECLASSIFIED Au lo ww l 3 - - SECE EE End No Clarxif-Icmmn Dup NELL weapons they are bound to use them sooner or later and thus touch off a general oonflagration He stated that he knows that the Swedish general staff is pressing the Swedish Goverrment to proceed with such a weapon and he referred to a recent announcement from Japan indicating tint the Japanese expect to have a satellite in orbit within five years as indicative of their potential capacity to produce such a weapon Er Aiken indicated that the United States position with respect to inspection and control was far too rigid to lead to agreenent and was being used by both sides as an excuse for failing to achieve agreenent The writer took the occasion of this statement to remind Hr Aiken that international agreements negotiated by the United States Govermnent are subject to Senate approval and stated categorically that it would be quite an unhappy circumstance if the Executive entered into an agreement which was not ratified Mr Aiken stated he was well aware of this condition and observed that the failure to ratify the Versailles Treaty had set back United States foreign policyr at least two decades He stated that in spite of the obstacles he felt that it was necessary to achieve a limited easement on distribution of nuclear weapons He based his arguments on 1 the obvious advantage to world peace if nuclear weapons are not possessed by more than four powers 2 his conviction that the Russians would not only accept such an agreement but would observe it since he believes it is in their interest to do so It is Mr Aiken's view that the Soviets would welcome such an agreement and would abide by it since it would provide them with an excuse for not furnishing nuclear weapom to China East Germany Poland and other satellites and 3 his conviction that it would be welcomed by the powers of Western Europe which Mr Aiken believes are still most fearful of the intentions of West It was on this note and after small tall relating to the Dublin Horse Show that the interview was concluded It was interesting to the writer to note that Hr Aiken referred to an article by Howard SIMONS appearing in a periodical entitled Daedalus Volume 88 No 5 which he had on his desk and which he indicated led him to believe that he was supporting Secretary Dulles' views by offering his nuclear club proposal The writer was unable to ascertain what statements in the article led him to this conclusion but believes it would be useful if the Department could furnish a cepy of this article to the Etnbassy in the event of any further discussions It is suggested that a spy likewise be furnished to Ambassador Lodge 4 J McLeod cc USUN This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu