Baas
was scheduled tor 11:30 PM and General Starlird said he approved proceeding
with the test at that time.
Subsequently the weather changed and it was
decided the test would have to be delayed until 2:00 AM.
Starbird
said
he then conferred with Department of State officials and was told that
US-USSR discussions were scheduled to begin in Geneva at 9:00AM EST,
October 31,
He stated he decided at this point that in view of the probable
political and psychological repercussions of holding a test at this late date
the final test should be canceHed,
Starbird said there will always be a
question as to whether the final shot should have been fired in view of its
importance to the Polaris weapons program, but that he believed that the
other considerations were of overriding importance.
The Commissioners
unanimously agreed that General Starbird had made the right decision
in cancelling the final test, "'
Meeting #1424, 12 November 58:
Here is the first mention of a weapons test readiness program which was
presented to the Commission by a memoran lum to the Chairman from
General Starbird dated 10 November 58.
A copy of the ‘words from the
minutes as well as a copy of this document AEC 726/172 will be obtained
for our files,
Meeting #1431, 20 November 58:
At this meeting, the Commission authorized the creation of a
Advisory Committee which had been
Plowshare
under discussion for several months.
Note that through this time period, the early days of the Geneva negotiations,
some meetings were devoted in their entirety to discussing the question of
9]