The Atomic Marshall Plan: Atoms for Peace, British diplomacy and civil nuclear power

Abstract

British policy towards President Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace speech was characterised by ambiguity. The world's third nuclear power, Britain sought to re-establish nuclear cooperation with the United States. Multilateral nuclear diplomacy was of secondary importance. This position is exemplified in Britain's conflicting attitude to the International Atomic Energy Agency which oscillated from warm enthusiasm to qualified rejection before settling on a policy of grudging acceptance. The paper focusses on British reactions to Eisenhower's proposal and shows that the fate of the agency was secondary to the ultimate aim of restoring the nuclear relationship with Washington which was realised in 1954 resulting in a British volte-face concerning the agency's future.

Notes

¹ Arthur H. Vandenberg Jr., ed., The Private Papers of Senator Vandenberg (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1952), 288.

² The letter is reproduced in Margaret Gowing, Interdependence and Deterrence: Britain, and Atomic Energy, 1945-1952 (Macmillan, 1974), 78–81.

³ Memorandum by the Prime Minister, 5 November 1945, GEN 75/12, CAB 130/3, The National Archives (TNA).

⁴ Alan Bullock, Ernest Bevin: Foreign Secretary, 1945-1951 (Heinemann, 1983), 188.

⁵ Confidential Annex to CM (45) 81, 8 November 1945, CAB 128/4, TNA.

⁶ For details see, Richard Hewlett and Oscar Anderson, The New World, 1939-1946. Volume I: A History of the Atomic Energy Commission. (Pennsylvania University Press, 1962), 531-554; Lilienthal at that time was chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority, then the largest producer of electrical power in the United States.

⁷ Earlier accounts describe the appointment of Baruch as a ‘logical choice’, Hewlett and Anderson, New World, 555. More recent studies show that there were serious misgivings about Baruch. His age, his vanity and his unwillingness to work were only some of the arguments mentioned against Baruch. See for example: McGeorge Bundy, Danger and Survival: Choices about the Bomb in the First Fifty Years (New York: Random House, 1988), 161-3. Septimus Paul, Nuclear Rivals: Anglo-American Atomic Relations, 1941-1952 (Ohio State University, 2000), 104-5.

⁸ Hewlett and Anderson, New World, 568.

⁹ Member states of the UNAEC were the members of the UN Security Council plus Canada. At the time these were Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Poland and the permanent members.

¹⁰ Documents on Disarmament 1945-59 (Washington: US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, 1960), Statement by the United States Representative to the UNAEC, 14 June 1946, 10-11.

¹¹ Ibid.

¹² Statement by the Soviet Representative to the UNAEC, 19 June 1946, Documents on Disarmament 1945-59.

¹³ Report on the proposals of the Lilienthal Committee, 20 June 1946, Chadwick papers, box 20, file 3, ACAE (46) 64, Churchill Archive, Cambridge.

¹⁴ John Baylis, Ambiguity and Deterrence: British Nuclear Strategy 1945-1964 (OUP, 1995), 44.

¹⁵ For the Atomic Energy Act see: Paul, Rivals, 94-103; Timothy Botti, The Long Wait: The Forging of the Anglo-American Nuclear Alliance, 1945-1958 (Greenwood Press, 1987), 17-24; John Simpson, The Independent Nuclear State: The United States, Britain and the Military Atom (Macmillan, 1983), 35-40.

¹⁶ Francis Beckett, Clem Attlee: A Biography (Richard Cohen, 1997), 223.

¹⁷ Foreign Office Note, 15 December 1946, FO 800/573, TNA.

¹⁸ Foreign Office to UK Delegation New York, 19 December 1946, PREM 8/686, TNA.

¹⁹ Foreign Office to UK Delegation New York, 14 December 1946, PREM 8/686, TNA.

²⁰ Simpson, State, 77.

²¹ Foreign Office to UK Delegation New York, 14 December 1946, PREM 8/686, TNA.

²² GEN 75, 16^th meeting, 16 December 1946, CAB 130/2, TNA.

²³ Robert H. Ferrell (ed), Off the Record: The Private Papers of Harry S. Truman (Harper & Row, 1980), 80.

²⁴ Difference of view between US and UK delegations, undated, CAB 126/223, TNA.

²⁵ Herbert Feis, From Trust to Terror: the Onset of the Cold War 1945-50 (Norton, 1970), 139-54.

²⁶ Daniel Yergin, Shattered Peace: the Origins of the Cold War and the National Security State (Deutsch, 1978), 239-40.

²⁷ Robert Hilderband, Dumbarton Oaks: The Origins of the United Nations and the Search for Postwar Security (University of North Carolina Press, 1990), 254.

²⁸ Bundy, Danger and Survival, 130-196.

²⁹ Churchill to Eden, 13 December 1951, PREM 11/1682, TNA.

³⁰ AE (M) (47), 2nd meeting, 11 July 1947, CAB 134/21, TNA.

³¹ Ibid.

³² The Constitution, Powers and Functions of an International Atomic Development Authority, ACAE (47) 41, 30 May 1947, CAB 134/12, TNA.

³³ AE (M) (47), 2nd meeting, 11 July 1947, CAB 134/21, TNA.

³⁴ International Control: United States and UK Proposals, Report by the Official Committee, AE (M) 47, 9 July 1947, CAB 134/21, TNA.

³⁵ Gowing, Independence, 264-5; Simpson, State, 79; Bundy, Danger, 469-70; Saul Kelly, 'No ordinary Foreign Office official: Sir Roger Makins and Anglo-American atomic relations 1945-55, Contemporary British History, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Winter 2000) 113–7.

³⁶ Record of Meeting held at AEC, 23 October 1954, FO 115/4542, TNA. This document was released in October 2006.

³⁷ Ian Clarke, Nuclear Diplomacy and the Special Relationship: Britain’s Deterrent and America, 1957-1962 (OUP, 1994), 24.

³⁸ For details of the Bermuda Summit see, Anthony Seldon, Churchill’s Indian Summer: The Conservative Government 1951–55 (Hodder & Stoughton, 1981), pp 396–404.

³⁹ Memorandum of Conversation regarding Bermuda Meeting, December 4, 1953, Papers as President, International Meetings Series, Box 1, Bermuda-State.

⁴⁰ Cherwell’s authority rested on a prime ministerial directive issued in 1952 which stated that the paymaster-general was responsible for advising the prime minister and the Cabinet on policy matters relating to atomic energy and for taking all ministerial action required in regard to research, development and production. The Ministry of Supply would continue to be responsible for day to day administration, accounting questions and public relations. The Ministry would also be responsible for answering parliamentary questions on atomic energy matters in the House of Commons other than those which the prime minister wished to answer himself. In January 1954, the Atomic Energy Authority became the responsibility of the Lord President of the Council. CAB 129/51, C(52)119, Ministerial Responsibility for Atomic Energy, 10 April 1952.

⁴¹ Cherwell to Prime Minister, 4 December 1953, EG 1/32, TNA.

⁴² Ibid.

⁴³ Gowing, Independence and Deterrence, 408.

⁴⁴ President Eisenhower’s address to the 470^th Plenary Meeting of the UN General Assembly, 8 December 1953, Documents on Disarmament, 1945-1959, 393-400. The full text of Eisenhower’s address can also be found on the IAEA’s website.

⁴⁵ The Economist, 19 December 1953.

⁴⁶ All quotations taken from The Times, 9 December 1953.

⁴⁷ Hansard, HC Debs, Vol. 522, 17 December 1953, c. 585.

⁴⁸ Cherwell to Prime Minister, 14 December 1953, EG 1/32, TNA.

⁴⁹ Hinton to Clarke, Office of Lord Chancellor, 10 December 1953, EG 1/32, TNA.

⁵⁰ Cherwell to Prime Minister, 14 December 1953, PREM 11/1680, TNA.

⁵¹ Lord Plowden first chaired AE(O) on 24 February 1954. His predecessor as chairman was Sir Pierson Dixon, Assistant Under Secretary in the Foreign Office.

⁵² AE (O) (54) 1, 1 January 1954, CAB 134/750, TNA.

⁵³ AE (O) (54), 1^st meeting, 6 January 1954, CAB 134/749, TNA. This document was released on 28 September 2012.

⁵⁴ A possible location for the atomic bank was considered to be Ascension Island in the South Atlantic ocean approximately 1,600 kilometres off the coast of West Africa.

⁵⁵ AE (O) (54), 6 January 1954, CAB 134/749, TNA.

⁵⁶ Telegram No. 98, Foreign Office to Washington, 8 January 1954, FO 371/110691, TNA. Lewis Strauss was Chairman of the AEC.

⁵⁷ Message from Sir Christopher Hinton, 9 January 1954, FO 371/110691, TNA.

⁵⁸ Cabinet minutes, CC (53) 28^th Conclusions, item 5, 21 April 1953, CAB 128/26, TNA.

⁵⁹ President Eisenhower’s Proposals for the Peaceful Development of Atomic Energy, 15 January 1954, FO 371/110692, TNA.

⁶⁰ Churchill to Eden, Personal Minute, M 6/54, PREM 11/1680, 8 January 1954, TNA.

⁶¹ Foreign Office to Makins, 20 January 1954, FO 371/110692, TNA.

⁶² Statement by Soviet Government on Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace Address, 21 Dec. 1953, US Department of State, Documents on Disarmament, 1945-1959 (Washington, D.C, 1960), 401-2.

⁶³ Summary of meeting in the White House, 16 January 1954, White House Central Files, subject series, box 13, DDEL.

⁶⁴ Procedure for discussion of President Eisenhower’s proposals on Atomic Energy, 5 February 1954, FO 371/110692, TNA.

⁶⁵ Security in a Certain Country, 17 June 1950, JIC (50) 56, CAB 158/20, TNA.

⁶⁶ Memorandum of conversation between Dulles and Makins, 7 January 1954, Ann Whitman Files, Administration Series, Box 4, DDEL. For details.

⁶⁷ Dulles to Eden, 16 February 1954, FO 371/110692, TNA.

⁶⁸ Cherwell to Churchill, 3 March 1954, EG 1/32, TNA.

⁶⁹ Telegram No. 900, Foreign Office to Washington, 9 March 1954, EG 1/32, TNA.

⁷⁰ Telegram No. 126, Washington to London, Outline of an International Atomic Energy Agency, 19 March 1954, FO 371/110693, TNA.

⁷¹ Eisenhower Proposals, copy of Russian reply, 3 May 1954, FO 371/110694, TNA. The full text of the Soviet reply is contained in FO 371/125076, Text of Exchange of Notes between the United States and the Soviet Union on President Eisenhower’s Atomic Pool Plan, US Information Service, 27 September 1954.

⁷² Telegram No. 1145, Makins to London, 9 June 1954, FO 371/110694, TNA.

⁷³ President Eisenhower’s proposal for an International Atomic energy Agency, present position, 10 June 1954, FO 371/110694, TNA.

⁷⁴ Eden’s comments are contained in a letter from Selwyn Lloyd, Minister in the Foreign Office to The Marquis of Salisbury, Lord President of the Council, 18 June 1954, EG 1/33, TNA.

⁷⁵ Foreign Office Memorandum, 7 June 1954, FO 371/110694, TNA.

⁷⁶ Cabinet minutes, CC (54) 43^rd conclusions, item 3, 22 June 1954, CAB 128/27, TNA.

⁷⁷ Telegram No. 2916, Foreign Office to Washington, 23 June 1954, FO 371/110694, TNA.

⁷⁸ For details of the Washington meeting see, Martin Gilbert, Never Despair: Winston S. Churchill, 1945-1965 (Heinemann, 1988), 992-1017.

⁷⁹ Record of meeting held at the White House, 27 June 1954, FO 371/125074, TNA. See also Discussions with United States Authorities, AE (O) (54) 83, 9 July 1954, CAB 134/751, TNA.

⁸⁰ Ibid.

⁸¹ Peck to Caccia, 5 July 1954, FO 371/125074, TNA.

⁸² Stephen Twigge and Len Scott, Planning Armageddon: Britain, The United States and the Command of Western Nuclear Forces 1945-1964, (Harwood, 2000), 100-02.

⁸³ Confidential Annex, CC (54) 47^th conclusions, minute 4, 7 July 1954, CAB 128/27, TNA.

⁸⁴ The eight nation group consisted of the US, UK, France, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Belgium and Portugal.

⁸⁵ Robert Rhodes James, Anthony Eden (Weidenfeld, 1986), 380.

⁸⁶ Makins to Foreign Office, 24 February 1955, FO 371/125158, TNA.

⁸⁷ Simpson, The Independent Nuclear State, 113.

⁸⁸ Hewlett and Holl, Atoms, 227.

⁸⁹ David Fischer, History of the International Atomic Energy Agency: The First Forty Years, (IAEA, 1997), 30.

⁹⁰ Peck to Dean, 30 July 1954, FO 371/125074, TNA.

⁹¹ Telegram No. 182, New York to London, Text of Dulles’ speech, 25 September 1954, FO 371/1215075, TNA.

⁹² The Economist, 23 July 1955.