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Strauss to Files
April 7,
411544
1958
Plans
for Hardtack
Strauss met with McElroy, Dulles, Farley, Killion, Quarles, Loper,
and Twining to discuss the proposed high altitude shot or shots in
the Hardtack series.
Quarles stated the case following which I
read the most recent communication from Luedecke which had been
sent to me by Starbird just prior to the meeting.
In the discussion,
DOD expressed its desire to go forward with the shots in order to
avoid the delay of five to seven months incident to their transfer
to Johnson Island and in order to save the Government the expense
incident to the transfer ghich Quarles stated might be as high as
$20 million.
Killion in general supported DOD.
In rebuttal I made the same statements that I had made on the previous
occasion as to our responsibility as U.N. Trustee for the Territory
and moral obligation to the inhabitants of the atoll.
I said that
the message which I received this morning indicated that the extra
expense was in the neighborhood of $5 to $6 million but that in any
@se the expense was de minimis compared with the other considerations.
We discussed the possibility of evacuating the natives, of stationing
military personnel as monitors on the islands, or of making the chiefs
and sub-chiefs responsible as had been suggested in General Luedecke's
message of the same date.
I then returned to the alternative issue of moving the test to Johnson
Island and after discussing the pros and cons, it was agreed that this
should be done.
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The DOD concurring.
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