Aiken drafted in additional personnel to the Irish Mission to the UN in the run-in to the XVIth UN Session. Seán Ronan, the head of the political and information divisions at headquarters in Dublin, was sent as a delegate to the First Committee of the UN, involving him intensely in Aiken’s non-dissemination efforts. His insider account reveals some of the dynamics and calculations at play in the building, as Ireland managed a balancing act of engineering consensus between East and West. In large part, the Irish Mission crafted the resolution’s language to skirt the issue of alliance nuclear sharing in a bid to manufacture unanimity. The Irish had pondered co-sponsoring a Swedish draft resolution but anticipated that it would face resistance from NATO comparable to earlier iterations of the Irish resolution. Similarly, Ireland neglected to mention a proposed new disarmament committee in the draft resolution – there was no guarantee that it would form and report expeditiously. Finally, by drawing on the instrument of acclamation, the Irish sidestepped French objections and gained universal approval for Resolution 1665 (1961), wrapping the resolution in universal legitimacy. 

Aiken’s first step was a modest paragraph calling for the formation of a UN commission to recommend measures to the next session. However, global attentions were focused on nuclear tests and their health effects, so Aiken linked his initiative with the American-led seventeen-power resolution requesting all states to suspend testing voluntarily. Aiken proposed an amendment to that motion that included the notion of brokering an understanding between nuclear weapons powers and non-nuclear powers.  He submitted that the former voluntarily desist from supplying nuclear weapons to other countries, while non-nuclear powers reciprocated and volunteered not to develop such weapons during a test suspension. This proposed quid pro quo became a staple in the Irish resolutions subsequently and eventually be inscribed into the NPT.

Aiken’s speech invoked recognizable tropes such as a ‘geometric’ increase in nuclear powers, creating an urgent need to halt the spread. His speech was seminal in identifying themes he and international opinion would rehearse in future years. He conjured up fears about small states and revolutionary groups with a bomb acting as ‘the detonator for world-wide thermonuclear war’. Aiken was perceptive – he expected criticisms about institutionalized equality between states (nuclear “haves” and “have nots”), harms to alliances, the sufficiency of test bans, and the absence of monitoring. He sought to disprove the validity of such critiques, and these issues were worked through gradually, eventually leading to the finalization of the NPT ten years later.  

This record of a conversation between Nikita Khrushchev and New Zealand Prime Minister Walter Nash, held on April 20, 1960, covers various international issues, including disarmament, the Cold War, German reunification, and the status of West Berlin. Nash praises Khrushchev’s peace proposals and emphasizes the importance of disarmament and peaceful coexistence. Khrushchev reiterates the Soviet Union's commitment to disarmament but expresses frustration with Western nations' resistance to concrete agreements. The two leaders discuss the need for mutual trust and the challenge of resolving intricate diplomatic issues. Khrushchev outlines Soviet plans for Germany, advocating peace treaties with both East and West Germany while proposing that West Berlin become a "free city." The conversation ends with Khrushchev agreeing to review cases of New Zealand residents seeking to reunite with family in the USSR. Both leaders express mutual respect and appreciation for the dialogue.

This document summary was generated by an artificial intelligence language model and was reviewed by a Wilson Center staff member.

Expert member of the German delegation to the NPT review conference.

Australian Prime Minister Whitlam offers Zhou Enlai an overview of his country's foreign policy interests. Analyzing the international relations among key nations in East and Southeast Asia.

Singapore Radio reports that the Chinese National Assembly has proposed the formation of a "pact against communism" among Southeast Asian countries.

France’s staging of atmospheric and underground tests in Algeria became increasingly untenable when neighboring African countries protested and even temporarily broke diplomatic relations with Paris. Once Algeria became independent in 1962, French authorities made plans to develop a test site in Polynesia.

Report from New Zealand's Ambassador to China on a conversation between New Zealand’s Press Delegation and Vice Premier Teng Hsia-ping. They discussed China's policies on opposing nuclear proliferation.

India argues that atomic experiments and explosions in Antarctica may have very harmful and the international community’s debate about Antarctica is appropriate.

New Zealand concerns the incompatibility between the proposal of the Pacific Nuclear-free Zone and the ANZUS Pact