Evening star., 1946-10-03
lY ths A,seelutsS Prsss

by the Asseciofse FFsst
NEW YORK, Oct. 3.-The tert
OF the memorandum prepared By
Bernard M. Baruch, United
States delegate to the United
Nations Atomic Energy Com
mission, for President Truman
on statements on atomic energy
made In the foreign policy letter
Of former Secretary OF Commerce
Henry A. Wallace, dated July 20.
toHoaDs:
September "A, l946.
Memorandum for the President.
Subject: Statements on Atomic
Energy in Secretary Wallace'i
Letter Of July 23.
Secretary Wallace's letter Of July
%, 1916, on foreign policy includes
a discussion of the international
control of atomic energy. The
United States delegation to the
United Nations Atomic Energy
Commission had no knowledge oi
this letter prior to its appearance
in the press on September Is. The
letter contains a number OF state
ments purporting to describe the
United States proposals for atomic
energy control which are directly
at variance with the, facts as re-
peatedly stated In widely published
documents well before the time the
letter was written. There are also
misunderstanding as to the pro-
posals made by the Soviet Union.
Some Mistaken Conclusions.
This memorandum is intended
simply to point out the major errors
of fact with q view to setting the
record straight. 1t does not attempt
to cover every detail or to restate
the entire United States position.
Secretary Wallace's letter also con-
tains some mistaken conclusions,
which were the inevitable result OF
the errors of fact. In this field, as
in all others. sound conclusions can
be based only on the facts.
The misstatements in Secretary
Wallace's letter may be summar-
lied under five headings. They are:
Cd Method Of determining tran
sition to the ultimate control plan.
ca The content and sequence OF
these transition stages.
80 The proposed limitation on
the great power veto.
"a The nature OF the Soviet pro-
posal.
80 The refusal by the United
States to depart from the principles
of its plan.
l. Method of Determining Stages
of Transition.
ta) Secretary Wallaces state
ments.
Secretary Wallace states:
There is, however, a fatal defect
in the Moscow statement in the
Acheson report and in the American
plan recently presented to the
United Nations Atomic Energy
Commission. That defect is the
scheme, as it is generally under
stood, Of arriving at international
agreements by many stages. OF
requiring other nations to enter
into binding commitments not to
conduct research into the military
use of atomic energy and to dis
close their uranium and thorium
resources while the United States
retains the right to withhold its
technical knowledge of atomic en-
ergy until the international control
and INSPECTION system is working to
our satisfaction"
Secretary Wallace repeatedly sug-
gests that under the United States
plan both the timing of the tran
sition and the sequence of steps
would be left to the sole discretion
of the United States. Thus he says
there is no objective standard of
what will qualify them tthe Rus
sians) as being good for any speci-
fled time for sharing our knowl-
edge" And again, he refers to Of
fering to share the information "at
some Indefinite time in the future"
at our own discretion.
Further Quotes Wallace.
In place of the United States pro-
posal, as he conceives it, Secretary
Wallace calls for a clear definition
of the transition stages to full In
ternational control, negotiated IN
advance as part of the treaty. Thus
he says:
"It is perfectly clear that the
'step-by step plan in any such one
sided form is not workable. The
entire agreement will have to be
worked out and wrapped up in a
single package. This may involve
certain steps or stages, but the
timing of such steps must be agreed
to in the initial master treaty"
He repeats this thought later In
the following paragraph:
"I am convinced therefore that
if we are to achieve our hopes OF
negotiating a treaty which will re-
suit in effective international
atomic disarmaments we must
abandon the impractical form of
the 'step-by-st idea which was
presented to the United Nations
Atomic Energy Commission. We
must be prepared to reach an
agreement which will commit us
to disclosing information and de-
stroying our bombs at specified
time Or in terms Of specified ac-
tions by other countries. rather
than at our unfettered discretion.
If we are willing to negotiate on
this basis I believe the Russians
r-ill also negotiate seriously with
view Of reaching an agreement" !"
(B) The Facts.
Secretary Wallace's statements
reflect complete ignorance Of the
United States position. Prior to