1946:
Acheson-Lilienthal Report and Baruch Plan cont.
- Dean Gooderham Acheson proposed the creation of an international agency tasked with control of nuclear weapons and materials.
The Baruch Plan, presented to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (UNAEC) on 14 June 1946, called for the establishment of an International Atomic Development Authority to control all fissile material production with enforcement provided by international inspections. Because the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union) objected to the international control of fissile material production before achieving disarmament, the UNAEC indefinitely adjourned in 1949.
1946: The Gromyko Plan and Soviet Union
Nuclear Testing
- Andrei Gromyko, Soviet Union's Foreign Minister (1957-1985), called for dismantlement of all nuclear weapons in 1946.
In response to the Baruch Plan, the Soviet Union presented the Gromyko Plan, which called for the dismantlement of all nuclear weapons followed by guidelines for international inspections. The Plan was named after Andrei Gromyko, the then Soviet Union Representative to the United Nations, who would become the Soviet Foreign Minister for nearly thirty years (1957-1985). During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Gromyko played an instrumental role in the negotiations with the United States and met directly with President Kennedy.
Later in life, Gromyko helped negotiate several arms control treaties, including the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT), the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, and the 1988 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The United States found the terms of the Gromyko Plan unacceptable and tested two weeks later at Bikini Atoll on July 1 1946. The Soviet Union felt compelled to enter the nuclear arms race and later became the second country in the world to test a nuclear weapon on 29 August 1949.
