153 



THE EISENHOWER PROPOSAL TO CONGRESS 



Scarcely two months after his Atoms for Peace message, President 

 Eisenhower on February 17, 1954 proposed revision of the Atomic 

 Energy Act of 1946. 39 He called for expanded international cooperation 

 in atomic energy, but was silent as to the proposed international atomic 

 energy agency. The changes he recommended were to : 



Widen cooperation with U.S. allies in certain atomic energy 

 matters ; 



Improve procedures for the control and dissemination of atomic 

 energy information ; and 



Encourage broadened participation in the development of peace- 

 time uses of atomic energy in the United States. 40 

 These recommendations, the President observed, were separate from 

 his proposal to seek a new basis for international cooperation in atomic 

 energy as outlined in his Atoms for Peace address. Consideration of 

 additional legislation which might be needed for that proposal should 

 await, he said, the outcome of discussions with other nations. 41 But no 

 subsequent message ever came. 



THE CONGRESSIONAL RESPONSE 



The Joint Committee on Atomic Energy in May and June 1954 held 

 extensive hearings on the proposed revisions of the Atomic Energy 

 Act. Administration witnesses supported international cooperation for 

 its benefits to the United States. AEC Commissioner Smyth testified 

 that the requested amendments would contribute substantially to world 

 peace, strengthen the national defense and the defense and economy of 

 the free world, and assure the continued leadership of the United 

 States in atomic energy. 42 Commissioner Thomas Murray further de- 

 veloped the case : 



Industrially underdeveloped countries, whose future economic growth is being 

 hampered by inadequate or high-cost fuels and electric energy, might benefit 

 significantly if the technical and financial problems can be overcome. For the 

 industrially advanced nations, encountering difficulty in continuing to secure 

 adequate supplies of cheap fuel and electric energy in the face of diminished 

 reserves and mounting costs for local or imported fuel, nuclear-power develop- 

 ment may prove to be a key element in future industrial growth. 43 



39 Atomic Energy Art of 1946 — Message from the President. (H. Doc. No. 32S) Con- 

 gressional Record, Vol. 100. February 17, 1954, pp. 1921-1924. 



40 Elaborating tbe reasons for international cooperation, the President spoke of the 

 need for authority to provide certain information and also nuclear materials to foreign 

 countries : 



In the development of peaceful uses for atomic energy, additional amendments are 

 required for effective United States cooperation with friendly nations. Such coopera- 

 tion requires the exchange of certain "restricted data" on the industrial applications 

 of atomic energy and also the release of fissionable materials in amounts adequate 

 for industrial and research use. I therefore recommend that the Atomic Energy Act 

 be amended to authorize such cooperation. Such amendments should prescribe that 

 before the conclusion of any arrangement for the transfer of fissionable material to 

 a foreign nation, assurances must be provided against its use by the recipient nation 

 for military purposes. Ibid., p. 1922. 



41 Loc. cit. 



42 U.S. Congress, Joint Committee on Atomic Energv, Hearings, 8. SS2S and H.R. 8862, to 

 Amend the Atomic Energy Act of 191,6, 83d Cong., 2d Sess., 1954, part II, p. 562. 



43 Ibid., p. 574. This point was made by EEC Commissioner Murray, an industrialist. 



