Today’s post is written by David Langbart, an Archivist in the Textual Records Division at the National Archives at College Park.
In March 1948, the Department of State sent a request for information about host country atomic energy developments to its diplomatic offices overseas. The Department directed posts to forward copies of basic laws, statutes, decrees, regulations, and published or readily available reports on the topic.[i] In May 1951, the Department sent diplomatic posts a reminder of the interest in that type of information.[ii]
In response to the second request, the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, sent the following report:[iii]
[i] Department of State to All American Diplomatic Officers, Circular Airgram, March 18, 1948, file 800.646/3-1848, 1945-49 Central Decimal File (NAID 302021), RG 59: General Records of the Department of State.
[ii] Department of State to All American Diplomatic Officers, Circular Airgram, May 18, 1951, file 900.7138/5-1851, 1950-54 Central Decimal File (NAID 302021) , RG 59: General Records of the Department of State.
[iii] U.S. Embassy Iran to Department of State, Despatch 1026, May 31, 1951, file 788.5611/5-3151, 1950-54 Central Decimal File (NAID 302021), RG 59: General Records of the Department of State.
It would be interesting to see the replies from Moscow, London and Paris.