Table Of ContentKENNEDY, MACMILLAN AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS
COLD WAR HISTORY SERIES
General Editor: Saki Dockrill, Senior Lecturer in War Studies,
King's College, London
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AUSTRIA IN THE FIRST COLD WAR, 1945-55
The Leverage of the Weak
Donette Murray
KENNEDY, MACMILLAN AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Cold War History
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Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England
Kennedy, Macmillan
and Nuclear Weapons
Donette Murray
Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary History
University of Ulster at Coleraine
Northern Ireland
First published in Great Britain 2000 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-15006-9 ISBN 978-1-349-15004-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-15004-5
First published in the United States of America 2000 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-22221-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Murray, Donette, 1973-
Kennedy, Macmillan and nuclear weapons I Donette Murray.
p. cm. - (Cold War history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-22221-5 (cloth)
1. United States-Military relations-Great Britain. 2. Great
Britain-Military relations-United States. 3. Nuclear weapons.
I. Title. II. Series.
UA23.M928 1999
355'.031'09410973-dc21 99-21772
CIP
© Donette Murray 2000
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 2000
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made
without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with
written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by
the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP OLP.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and
sustained forest sources.
10987654321
09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
1 Special Relations? 13
2 The Origins of a Crisis 31
3 Chaos and Confusion - Allies in Trouble 45
4 A Crisis Explained 57
5 Finding a Solution - The Nassau Compromise 81
6 A New Foreign Policy Initiative - Are There Any
Takers? 105
7 Do or Die - The Making and Breaking of the
Multilateral Nuclear Force 122
Conclusion 144
Notes and References 159
Glossary of Names 198
Select Bibliography 203
Index 215
v
Acknowledgements
This work originally took the form of a DPhil thesis, awarded in
1997. I am deeply grateful for the help and advice of my doctoral
supervisor, Tom Fraser, who deftly guided me through the bewil
dering and at times frustrating path of research with great patience
and care. lowe a great debt both to him and to Michael Dockrill
and Alan Sharp who examined the thesis. They, along with Saki
Dockrill, were instrumental in helping me to transform it into this
book. In particular, I would like to express my gratitude to Saki
Dockrill, my editor, who provided guidance, encouragement and
helpful criticism, which were both very much appreciated and ex
tremely useful.
This work has benefited greatly from the comments and sugges
tions of the following who kindly and patiently took time to respond
to the numerous questions posed by the author: Richard Neustadt,
Arthur Schlesinger Jr, Carl Kaysen, Sir Frederick Bishop, Sir Arthur
Henderson, Sir Edward Playfair, Eunan O'Halpin, Michael Cox,
Simon Ball, Richard Aldous and Sabine Lee.
The research for this book was helped by a number of archivists
and librarians at various institutions in both the UK and the United
States. I wish to express my thanks to the archivists at the Public
Record Office, Kew; the John F. Kennedy Library, Boston; the
National Archives, Washington, DC; and the Bodleian Library,
Oxford. They were all extremely courteous and kind. My thanks
also to the library staff at the University of Ulster and in particu
lar to Kay Ballantyne who provided invaluable assistance.
I would also like to thank the staff and graduate students at the
University of Ulster, and in particular Alan Sharp, Ken Ward, Tony
Emmerson, Bill Riches and Joanne Taggart. I gratefully acknowl
edge the financial assistance given to me by the University of Ulster.
Copyright material from the Public Record Office, Kew, appears
by permission of Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Abridged por
tions of chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 appeared in Royal Irish Academy
Conference Proceedings in 1996 and in Sabine Lee and Richard Aldous
(eds), Harold Macmillan: Aspects of a Political Life (Macmillan,
forthcoming). Full citations appear in the bibliography.
I would also like to thank the Macmillan Trustees for their kind
vii
viii Acknowledgements
permisslOn to examine and reproduce extracts from the Harold
Macmillan diaries.
I wish to thank Tim Farmiloe, Publishing Director, and Annabelle
Buckley, Senior Commissioning Editor, at Macmillan for their great
help in preparing the manuscript for publication.
lowe a particular debt to Keith Kyle who gave not only of his
time, but also of his vast knowledge and colourful recollections.
Finally, I express my gratitude and thanks to my parents, family
and friends for their help and humour and to Martin for his sup
port and encouragement throughout. His unshakable belief in me
and uncompromising love mean more than he will ever know.
Donette Murray
Derry
Abbreviations
AEA Atomic Energy Authority
AEC Atomic Energy Committee
ALBM air-launched ballistic missile
AWRE Atomic Weapons Research Establishment
BOAR British Army of the Rhine
BJSM British Joint Staff Mission, Washington
BMEWS Ballistic Missile Early Warning System
BNDSG British Nuclear Deterrent Study Group
CAS Chief of the Air Staff
CDS Chief of the Defence Staff
CINCLANT Commander in Chief, Atlantic
CND Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
COS Chiefs of Staff
COSC Chiefs of Staff Committee
DOD Department of Defense
FO Foreign Office
GNP Gross National Product
ICBM inter-continental ballistic missile
IRBM intermediate-range ballistic missile
JCAE Joint Committee on Atomic Energy
JCS Joint Chiefs of Staff
JIC Joint Intelligence Committee
JPS Joint Planning Staff
KT kiloton
MLF multilateral nuclear force
MOD Ministry of Defence
MRBM medium-range ballistic missile
MT megaton
MWDP Mutual Weapons Development Weapon
NAC North Atlantic Council
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NSC National Security Council
OR operational requirement
PM Prime Minister
PSAC President's Science Advisory Committee
R&D Research and Development
ix
x Abbreviations
SAC Strategic Air Command
SACEUR Supreme Allied Commander, Europe
SACLANT Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic
SAGW surface-to-air guided weapon
SHAPE Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
SlOP single-integrated operational plan
SLBM submarine-launched ballistic missile
UKAEC United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
USAEC United States Atomic Energy Commission
USAF United States Air Force
USJCAE United States Joint Committee on Atomic Energy
(US Congress)
USJCS United States Joint Chiefs of Staff
USN United States Navy
