FOREIGN RELATIONS, 1950, VOLUME I


                             [Annex]
          The Danish Embassy to the Department of State

CONFIDENTIAL
                         AIDE-M-iMOIRE

  The Open Letter Professor Niels Bohr addressed to the United
Nations on the 9th of June, 1950,' was sent entirely on his own initiative
and without foregoing consultation with the Danish Government.
  When, however, the Danish Prime Minister became acquainted with
the Open Letter, Mr. Hedtoft 3 made the Danish point of view in
regard to Professor Bohr's letter known in a statement which he gave
to the press in Copenhagen on the 13th of June.
  In this statement it was said:
  "Professor Bohr emphasizes the importance of cooperation among
nations. He raises the demand for an open world with free access to
information and exchange of ideas everywhere as a means to strengthen
reciprocal confidence and to guarantee mutual safety. e
   We in Denmark sincerely hope that the thoughts expressed in the
 Open Letter may be an impulse to serious deliberations in the minds
 of everybody who has a share in the responsibility for the future
 of our world."
   The view expressed by the Prime Minister is shared by the entire
 Danish Cabinet.
   While the Government in Copenhagen-has no intention to make any
 further public comments to Professor Bohr's Open Letter for the
 time being, the Danish Government would like to acquaint the Govern-
 ment of the United States of America with their views on the matter
 in every respect.
   The Danish Government attaches very great importance to the
 thoughts expressed in Professor Bohr's Open Letter and would-deeply
 deplore it should Professor Bohr's initiative be looked upon by the
 public merely as an expression of the good intentions of a purely
 theoretical scientific mind.
   In the view of the Danish Government, an early clear American
 declaration to all countries in favor of an open world and a renewed
 American offer to place all military scientific inventions at the disposal
 of all countries under the safeguard of mutual appropriate inter-
 -national control would be of the greatest value in the effort to sur-
 mount the present international stalemate. Such a step would create
 all over Europe a strong and good'impression of American sincerity
 and might possibly alsobe of great impact in Yugoslavia, China,
 India, and other countries.

    3 Hans Hedtoft, Prime Minister of Denmark.


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