MCA
May 27, 1957
Penson
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
Dear Stub:
Let me first thank you for your thoughtful letter of May
twenty-second.
The whole question of testing of
atomic weapons has engaged my concern from the time
i took office.
J have often talked with Lewis Strauss
about it and, knowing my views and sharing them fully,
he has held testing to the absolute minimum, ruling out
shots which he felt could not be justified on the basis of
the results sought.
As you know, the fall-out of the
last series in the Pacific was only a fraction of that
from the 1954 teste.
On the other hand, as you also know far better than
almost any other person I can think of, there has been a
great enhancement of our defensive strength through the
developments which have come from the test program to
date.
We have increased the numbers, the delivera-
bility, the efficiency and versatility of our weapons.
Most recently, we have learned that certain of them can
be made in such a manner that radioactive fall-out is
You are correct in your observation that I feel our large
weapons (incidentally, now susceptible of being relatively
the cleanest in the sense of fission product yield) are.
ee
large enough and that we know we can make them larger
on the same principles if ever there were strategic need
for them, but I do not believe you are correctly informed
that there is any approved plan to test larger weapons
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very greatly minimized.
The tactical usefulness of
this latter development is known to you.
diate,
J
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