Bobby Pushes LBJ on A-Talks

June 23, 1965 - Senator Robert F. Kennedy urged President Johnson today to assign “central priority” to a treaty that would halt the spread of nuclear weapons.

Sixteen other Senators commended Kennedy for his remarks, but the comment from the White House was short and chilly.

In his speech, which he regarded as his first major floor address, Kennedy said the Administration should “at once” initiate negotiations with nations having a nuclear capability, including Communist China, and with those having a nuclear potential.

In addition to Communist China, the nations that now have the capacity to explode nuclear bombs are the U.S., the Soviet Union, Britain, and France. Kennedy estimated that 18 nations would be in a position to develop nuclear weapons by 1968.

The 1963 treaty to prevent all but underground nuclear tests, Kennedy said, was the first step, taken at the initiative of the U.S.

“But we have not yet taken the second step,” he went on. “The world has not moved, beyond the limited nuclear test ban itself, to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons.”

He continued:“We cannot allow the demands of day-to-day policy to obstruct our efforts to solve the problem of nuclear spread. We cannot wait for peace in Southeast Asia — which will not come until nuclear weapons have spread beyond recall. We cannot wait for a general European settlement — which has not existed since 1914. We cannot wait until all nations learn to behave — for bad behavior armed with nuclear weapons is the danger we must try to prevent.”

Asked for comment, George Reedy, White House Press Secretary, recalled that on Nov. 1 of last year, President Johnson had appointed a committee headed by Roswell Gilpatric, former Under Secretary of Defense, “to look into this matter.”

“Of course,” Reedy added, “we are glad Senator Kennedy is also interested in this field.”

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