Stassen's failure in London proved to be only a temporary halt in
the march to test ban negotiations.
On March 31, 1958, only days after
they had campleted their most extensive series to that date, the Soviet
Union announced a unilateral test ban and appealed to other nuclear
powers to halt their tests.
President Eisenhower and Chairman Nikita
Khrushchev agreed shortly thereafter to sponsor a technical conference
to determine whether a system to detect nuclear weapontests could be
created.
August
The technical conference was held in Geneva from July 2 wtil
21,
feasible.
1958,
and concluded
that
such a
system was technically
President Eisenhower accepted the conclusions of the con-
ference and announced on August 22 that the United States would suspend
testing for a year once test ban negotiations began. 42
With a test ban at hand the Commission tested at an even more
urgent pace.
Phase
I of the Hardtack
series,
held at the Pacific
proving grounds from April through August 1958, consisted of thirty-five
shots, most of them relatively small. Rockets carried two megaton renge
experiments high into the atmosphere from launching sites on Johnson
Island.
Phase II of Hardtack, held at Nevada, consisted of nineteen
shots, four of them underground and ten with the devices suspended 1900
feet above the ground by balloons.
fallout was minimal.“*
1958.
Most of these shots were small
anc
42 © The Hardtack series concluded on October 30,
On November 1 test ban negotiations opened in Geneva.
“For a
time, the era of confrontation between the United States and the Soviet
(&
Union was giving way to an era of negotiations.