Letter Accepting Resignation of Arthur H. Dean as Chairman of the U.S. Delegation to the Geneva Disarmament Committee.

Dear Mr. Ambassador:

It is with great regret that I have received your letter of resignation as Chairman of the United States Delegation to the Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Committee at Geneva and as a member of the United States Delegation to the Seventeenth General Assembly of the United Nations. I cannot accept your resignation without first acknowledging the debt which I and other members of this government owe you for your outstanding service.

I realize you have arrived at your decision to retire for compelling personal reasons. I know of the personal sacrifices which you have had to make during the past two years so as to devote your time wholeheartedly to international disarmament negotiations on behalf of this government. However, you must have the satisfaction of knowing what a key role you have played in this vital endeavor. I am grateful you have been able to remain as the head of these negotiations for as long as you have, and I now reluctantly accept your resignation as Chairman of the United States disarmament negotiations effective December 31, 1962.

During the two years that you served as chief negotiator on nuclear test ban and disarmament questions, the breadth and pace of these negotiations has probably been unequaled. The draft test ban treaties and the United States outline disarmament treaty introduced by you into the Geneva negotiations were the most serious and far-reaching documents of this character which the United States had ever put forward. Moreover, the negotiations during the past two years covered the whole field of disarmament and arms control, ranging from general and complete disarmament through such firststep measures as the nuclear test ban and proposals to reduce the risk of war by accident or miscalculation.

As the first United States Representative to the New Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Committee at Geneva, you have helped to give lift and vigor to this Committee. The impetus derived from your outstanding leadership to the United States Delegation will, we must believe, lead to fruitful negotiations in the future. Moreover, it has been a source of considerable satisfaction for me to note the first-rate working relationships which you and the staff of the United States Delegation to the Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Committee have maintained with the Secretary of State, the Director of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the Secretary of Defense, and other United States government officials.

I know you share with me the continued belief that the effort to move forward to our goals in disarmament is one of the greatest opportunities we have to advance the cause of peace in the world today. It is very reassuring to me to know that I may call on you for your help and guidance in the future. I shall look forward to a close and helpful continuing relationship.

Let me end by expressing my warm personal good wishes, and once again my hearty thanks.

Sincerely,

JOHN F. KENNEDY

[The Honorable Arthur H. Dean, 48 Wall Street, New York 5, New York]