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{
    "localId": "193224472",
    "label": "Memorandum of Conversation with Secretary of State Dean Acheson, Paul Hoffman, Milton Katz, and W. Park Armstrong",
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    "id": "193224472",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Memorandum of Conversation with Secretary of State Dean Acheson, Paul Hoffman, Milton Katz, and W. Park Armstrong",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/193224472",
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        "Dean Acheson Papers",
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    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 17,
            "logicalDate": "1952-01-01",
            "month": 1,
            "year": 1952
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{
    "seq": 2,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-da/201181/1721936/1721936-24-02.jpg",
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    "ocrText": "RESTRICTEL\n-2-\nARCHIVES 'NATIONAL AND\nRECORDS\nSERVICE\"\nconvinced us of its good intentions. Mr. Hoffman indicated some of a\ntear\nrising pressure to use force and an increasing impatience primarily on the\npart of the military, but also among the civilian population.\nI said that I was not sure that I understood the proposal or what it might\naccomplish. It seemed to me that the obstacles to disarmament were not surar-\nmountable by discussion on our side because the real obstacles are created by\nthe USSR and not by the West; in fact, I personally find little misunderstanding\nof the desirability and consequences of disarmament on the part of the military\nin the West. The problem, however, is how to get at disarmament, i.e., how to\nget the Soviets to talk with the West on any genuine basis.\nMr. Hoffman agreed with me, but he said that nevertheless he thinks\ndiscussion would be helpful, that he himself believes that the results of\ndiscussion would penetrate to the interior of the USSR. He pointed to\nthe desirability or even necessity of getting the population of, say, India\nto understand what the West is seeking and what it means by disarmament.\nMr. Katz supported Mr. Hoffman's views and went over at some length sub-\nstantially the same grounds. He stressed what he referred to as the \"inter-\nlocking nature of strength and peace, \" and he confessed to some nervousness\nover the ability of a democratic government to restrain and control impatience\nwhen its arsenal is filled, although he is looking ahead some twentyfour\nmonths before that becomes critical.\nI agreed with the importance of the subject of disarmanent and indi-\ncated that I had been talking of it for the last three years. I pointed\nout that it seemed to me more important to get high-level people working\non disarmament than to have them tälking about it. I pointed out that\nthere were both advantages and disadvantages in the application of the\nParis disarmament formula which, in my opinion, are not widely understood.\nFor example, in the event of a strict application of the formula, there\nwould be increased opportunities for small-scale and indirect aggression,\nsuch as are occurring in Korea and Indochina now, and none of the Western\npowers would be strong enough to intervene. However, I could not deny that\ndiscussion of phases and stages of disarmament would be educational and\nperhaps result in a broader and clearer understanding by the public of the\nneed for it and the consequences of it.\nMessrs. Hoffman and Katz reiterated their views on the subject and\nthan the plan they have in mind is still quite tentative. In sum, they\nbelieve that it is necessary now to hegin preparing the climate of public\nopinion so that the danger of impatience is minimized at the time when\nWestern military strength reaches planned levels.\nReWPArmstrong:ejg\nDECLASSIFIED\nF.O. 10501"
}