New Aproaches to Atomic Control

Report Outline
Eisenhower Initiative in Atomic Dilemma
Record of Past Dealings with Atomic Control
Atomic Energy Potentials in War and Peace

Eisenhower Initiative in Atomic Dilemma

New Approaches to the unsolved problem of atomic control are now being explored in private diplomatic talks on President Eisenhower's proposal for an international pool of atomic materials for peaceful purposes. At the present stage, the governments principally involved are those of Soviet Russia and the United States. At a later stage, conversations are expected with Great Britain and Canada, partners with the United States in development of the first atomic bomb, France, and other countries like Belgium and South Africa which control vital sources of fissionable materials.

Current Private Consultations on Atomic Control

Preliminary conversations on the Eisenhower plan were opened at Washington, Jan. 11, when Secretary of State Dulles held the first of two meetings with Soviet Ambassador Zaroubin. The Washington talks paved the way for private discussions between Dalles and Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov daring the Big Four conference at Berlin. Soviet views on the scope and substance of future atomic negotiations were not fully disclosed during the initial exchanges but it was believed that the diplomatic handling of the Eisenhower offer by the new Malenkov regime would be more adroit than was that of the Stalin regime in 1947 when it refused Russian participation in the Marshall plan.

Terms of Eisenhower Atomic Pool Proposal

President Eisenhower's proposal of Dec. 8 to the United Nations General Assembly differed in at least two fundamental respects from earlier plans for coping with the atomic dilemma. First, it offered a new approach (through “private or diplomatic talks” rather than public debate under the paralyzing glare of full publicity) which would seek to move the question of international control off the dead center on which it had been stalled for more than five years. Second, instead of starting with the most difficult part of the problem, it set forth specific steps which could be taken at once to develop atomic energy for peaceful purposes.