Memorandum from Averell Harriman to President Harry S. Truman

DECLASSIFIED 0. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and 5(D) or (E) TOP SECRET attle Bept. of State letter, Aug. 9, 1973 Bx ALT. HC ; NARS Date 14-16-25 SIGNAL CENTER THE WHITE HOUSE URGENT URGENT 12 June 1946 From: Ambassador Harriman To : The President of the United States Nr : 3021 121645Z ARCMIVES THATIONAL CERVICE AND Over the weekend Attlee asked me to call on him. He showed me his long telegram to you on question of atomic energy and elaborated the British attitude. In the first place, the British are much concerned over the McMahon bill since they feel that if it becomes law they will be placed in exactly the same position viz-a-viz the U.S. as every other country. Such a situation, they feel, would violate the spirit of the Quebec understanding and the under- standings reached between you and Attlee during his visit last Noxember. Whatever the correct interpretation of these may be, he feels there was a recognition of a special position between the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. in regard to atomic energy and the future exchange of scientific information. For this reason he sincerely hopes that the bill will not become law in its present form. He feels there should be some recognition of the mutual cooperation during the development and some appropriate acceptance of the special British, Canadian, U.S. relationship. If the bill is to become law, he says that a debate in Parliament could not be avoided regarding the whole question of our understandings. Because of Churchill's sponsorship of the development and hispersonal involvement, Churchill will no doubt take an active part in this debate. Rightly or wrongly, Churchill has felt that the development was a mutual project. Attlee fears that as a result a serious misunderstanding may TOP SECRET