Page images
PDF
EPUB

in order to supervise the elimination of the said bases and the withdrawal of military personnel and troops to within their own national territories; control will also be established at airfields and ports, to ensure that they are not used for military purposes. At the same time, rocket launching sites, with the exception of those maintained for peaceful purposes, will be destroyed under the supervision of the international control organization.

The control organization will have the right to inspect without hindrance all enterprises, plants, factories and shipyards, previously engaged wholly or in part in the production of rockets, aircraft, surface warships, submarines and any other means of delivering nuclear weapons, in order to prevent the organization of clandestine production of armaments which can be used as vehicles for atomic and hydrogen weapons. By agreement, permanent control teams may be established at some plants and installations.

International inspection teams dispatched by the control organization will have the right to carry out a thorough examination of rocket devices to be launched for peaceful purposes, and to be present at their launching.

United States Paper Submitted to the Ten-Nation Committee on Disarmament: Program for General and Complete Disarmament Under Effective International Control, June 27, 1960 1

[Extracts]

Stage One

1

2. The placing into orbit or stationing in outer space of vehicles carrying weapons capable of mass destruction shall be prohibited. 3. To give greater protection against surprise attack, (A) prior notification to the International Disarmament Control Organization of all proposed launchings of space vehicles and missiles and their planned tracks

4. Declaration of and institution of on-site inspection at mutually agreed operational air bases, missile launching pads, submarine and naval bases in order to establish a basis for controls over nuclear delivery systems in subsequent stages.

Stage Two

2. Quantities of all kinds of armaments of each State, including nuclear, chemical, biological and other weapons of destruction in existence and all means for their delivery, shall be reduced to agreed levels and the resulting excesses shall be destroyed or converted to peaceful uses. Agreed categories of missiles, aircraft, surface ships,

1 Conference doc. TNCD/7, June 27, 1960; Department of State press release 430, Aug. 5, 1960.

[blocks in formation]

submarines and artillery designed to deliver nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction shall be included in this measure.

Stage Three

2. The international peace force and remaining agreed contingents of national armed forces shall be armed only with agreed types and quantities of armaments. All other remaining armaments, including weapons of mass destruction and vehicles for their delivery and conventional armaments shall be destroyed or converted to peaceful

uses.

A. There shall be no manufacture of any armaments except for agreed types and quantities for use by the international peace force and agreed remaining national contingents.

Message From President Eisenhower Transmitted via
Communication Satellite Echo I, August 12, 19601

This is President Eisenhower speaking.

It is a great personal satisfaction to participate in this first experiment in communications involving the use of a satellite balloon known as Echo. This is one more significant step in the United States program of space research and exploration. The program is being carried forward vigorously by the United States for peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind.

The satellite balloon which has reflected these words may be used freely by any nation for similar experiments in its own interests. Information necessary to prepare for such participation was widely distributed some weeks ago.

The United States will continue to make freely available to the world the scientific information acquired from this and other experiments in its program of space exploration.

Statement by the United States Representative (Lodge) to the Disarmament Commission, August 16, 1960 2

*

[Extract]

2

Mr. Chairman, the United States refuses to be discouraged. But we should lose no time in resuming disarmament discussions on some basis which promises progress. Modern armaments are constantly growing more complex and more difficult to control or to abolish with certainty. We must not wait, as the Soviet Union seems to want us to do, while the problems grow more difficult and more dangerous.

1 Public Papers of the Presidents: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1960-61, p. 630. Documents on Disarmament, 1960 (Department of State publication 7172; 1961), p. 221.

Let me give one example of the dangers of delay. The Allied nations have proposed an early agreement to ban the stationing of weapons of mass destruction in outer space. If we do not grasp this opportunity now, the day is sure to come before very long when the disarmament negotiations will have passed another point of no return-just as we did a decade ago in the case of detection of concealed nuclear weapons. If that happens in the case of outer space weapons, we will be threatened by weapons and vehicles which can fly deep into space, and by bombardment satellites hovering above us against the background of stars and planets. Now that is not science fiction. It is a technical certainty unless the nations which can launch such vehicles soon cooperate to prevent it.

Once again we seem to stand at a fork in the road. On one side is the road either to war or, at best, to a growing burden of ever more complex and powerful weapons, with all the fear and tensions and real dangers that such a situation implies.

Statement by President Eisenhower on United States
1
Achievements in Space, August 17, 1960 1

The events of the past weeks have demonstrated beyond all doubt the vigor, capabilities and leadership of the United States in the conquest of the frontiers of science and technology and, in particular, in the exploration and utilization of space. The entire nation is proud of the impressive array of successful experiments carried out by the United States this year:

-Pioneer V, the sun satellite, which continued to receive and transmit radio messages over a period of three months and to a distance of 22,500,000 miles from earth;

-Tiros I, the meteorological satellite which took 23,000 cloud cover pictures during its operating life of three months and provided increased assurance that revolutionary improvements in the science of weather forecasting will be achieved;

--the success that has attended the efforts in the satellite-based navigation program called Transit I;

-the orbiting of Echo I, the 100-foot balloon which circles the earth at a distance of approximately 1000 miles and a speed in excess of 15,000 miles per hour serving as a reflector of radio signals from one point to another and distant point on the surface of the earth;

-the record-breaking flights of the X-15 research airplane; -and finally, the spectacular recovery of the data capsule of the Discoverer XIII satellite.

All these are the results of a well planned and determined attack on this new field—an attack that promises very real and useful results for all mankind. Each of these satellites is destined to play an important part in broadening man's understanding of the cosmos in which he lives. While no one of them has been undertaken solely in an effort to achieve a "spectacular first" in the eyes of the world, each

1 Public Papers of the Presidents: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1960-61, pp. 643-644.

has resulted in just such a "spectacular first" in support of the desires of mankind for greater knowledge and understanding.

The United States leads the world in the activities in the space field that promise real benefits to mankind.

Address by President Eisenhower to the General Assembly, September 22, 19601 [Extract]

Outer Space

Another problem confronting us involves outer space.

The emergence of this new world poses a vital issue: Will outer space be preserved for peaceful use and developed for the benefit of all mankind? Or will it become another focus for the arms raceand thus an area of dangerous and sterile competition?

The choice is urgent. And it is ours to make.

The nations of the world have recently united in declaring the continent of Antarctica "off limits" to military preparations. We could extend this principle to an even more important sphere. National vested interests have not yet been developed in space or in celestial bodies. Barriers to agreement are now lower than they will ever be again.

The opportunity may be fleeting. Before many years have passed, the point of no return may have passed.

Let us remind ourselves that we had a chance in 1946 to insure that atomic energy be devoted exclusively to peaceful purposes. That chance was missed when the Soviet Union turned down the comprehensive plan submitted by the United States for placing atomic energy under international control.

We must not lose the chance we still have to control the future of outer space.

I propose that:

1. We agree that celestial bodies are not subject to national appropriation by any claims of sovereignty.

2. We agree that the nations of the world shall not engage in warlike activities on these bodies.

3. We agree, subject to appropriate verification, that no nation will put into orbit or station in outer space weapons of mass destruction. All launchings of space craft should be verified in advance by the United Nations.

4. We press forward with a program of international cooperation for constructive peaceful uses of outer space under the United Nations. Better weather forecasting, improved worldwide communications, and more effective exploration not only of outer space but of our own earth-these are but a few of the benefits of such cooperation.

1 Department of State Bulletin, Oct. 10, 1960, pp. 554-555.

Agreement on these proposals would enable future generations to find peaceful and scientific progress, not another fearful dimension to the arms race, as they explore the universe.

Address by the Canadian Prime Minister (Diefenbaker) to the General Assembly, September 26, 1960 1

[Extract]

I have frequently had occasion to urge publicly the end of nuclear weapons, the systematic control of missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons of mass destruction, the designation and inspection of launching sites for missiles, the abolition of biological and chemical weapons, the outlawing of outer space for military purposes and, especially, a ban on the mounting of armaments on orbital satellites, an end to the production of fissionable materials for weapons and the conversion of existing stocks for peaceful purposes. Canada over and over again has advocated an end to nuclear testing.

I need hardly stress the significance of early agreement on measures like these, carried out under appropriate verifications and inspection, for there can be no dissipation of fear unless there is control and inspection. Tremendous advances have been made in outer space. It will be too late a year from now. I hope that at this time consideration will be given to jurisdiction in outer space being assured for scientific and peaceful purposes only, so that all nations, great and small, will have equal rights.

I believe, and Canada takes the stand, that no celestial body shall be considered as capable of appropriation by any State; that space vehicles shall be identified by a system of registration of launchings, call signs and other characteristics; that frequencies for communications with and among space vehicles shall be allocated on a rational and agreed basis.

These tremendous problems require the consideration of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and that body to commence its work at once.

Joint News Release by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of Commerce on International Participation in the TIROS Satellite Experiment, September 26, 1960 2

The United States has issued an invitation to foreign governments to participate in meteorological research connected with the next TIROS satellite.

The NASA and the Weather Bureau, Department of Commerce, which are conducting the TIROS experiment jointly, tendered the in

1 Documents on Disarmament, 1960, pp. 249-250.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration news release 60-268, Sept. 26, 1960.

« PreviousContinue »