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French Nuclear History

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Sonnenfeldt, Helmut

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Kissinger, Henry

1923-

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June 13, 1963	Annex to analysis by SMD on Proposal to assign to NATO Italian Polaris-armed Ships Report by Gen. A. Rossi on Polaris SLBM and NATO naval forces, including technological and employment features, costs. The report includes discussions of IRBM forces in Italy, and French and British nuclear forces.
October 29, 1960	General Staff of Defense (SMD) Report, 'NATO military problems. Ten-year plan' Report on France’s plan to establish a policy of autonomic thermonuclear dissuasion and an analysis of the negative effects such a plan would have, including weakening of the NATO shield and increased risk of nuclear attack on Western Europe.
October 15, 1972	Ministry of Foreign Affairs Note, 'French military nuclear policy and its consequences for the European unification' The note suggests that French motives for developing nuclear capabilities are political rather than based on national security considerations. France seeks to insure a key role in global political and military balance, and its behavior creates unfavorable conditions for the development of common European defense.
May 22, 1963	Research Memorandum RFE-40 from Thomas L. Hughes to the Acting Secretary, 'A French Nuclear Testing Site in the Pacific? – Plans and Repercussions' 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.
June 15, 1947	New York Herald Tribune, European edition, 'Joliot-Curie Rips America for Atomic Energy Report' French High Commissioner for Atomic Energy, Joliot-Curie, criticizes Henry DeWolf Smyth of Princeton University for omitting from his report the “vital contributions of French science to the discoveries leading to the making of atomic bombs.”
December 31, 1968	National Intelligence Estimate, NIE 22-68, 'French Nuclear Weapons and Delivery Capabilities' The French nuclear program had been of great concern to US presidents during the 1960s because Paris had defied US pressure and was also suspected of supporting proliferation by aiding the Israeli nuclear program. This recently declassified estimate, prepared at the close of the Johnson administration, gives a picture of a program that was slowing down because of internal financial and economic problems, in part by the impact of the May 1968 student and worker uprising.
March 23, 1957	Memorandum of Conversation between John Foster Dulles and Selwyn Lloyd, 'Atomic Energy Items: (1) French Request (2) Test Limitation' US-UK discussion of French nuclear weapons potential and efforts that could be undertaken to hinder or advance the their program. The French request for technical assistance from these two governments was also covered.
August 24, 1960	Memorandum of Conversation, 'Nuclear Sharing' Secretary of Defense Gates, Acting-Secretary of State Dillon and the Atomic Energy Commissions' McCone discuss nuclear sharing with France. The French had offered full cooperation and participation in NATO in return for US Polaris submarine-launched missiles (without warhead).
March 1, 1962	Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Foy Kohler, 'Secretary McNamara’s Views on Nuclear Sharing' Secretary of Defense McNamara and his Deputy Gilpatric discuss whether assisting the French with missile technology would advance their nuclear weapons program. They speculate that it will help indirectly, missile aid would reduce the cost of the French missile research program and those saving could be directed to warhead production.
March 9, 1962	Memorandum of Telephone Message from Foy D. Kohler to Paul H. Nitze and Roswell L. Gilpatric Instructions for Roswell Gilpatric and Paul Nitze from Secretary of State Rusk for negotiations with the French. Among the topics which the US representatives should not discuss are missile sharing and a common Western nuclear force.