Atomic Commission Chairman Resigns

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28606, 7 June 1958, Page 13

Atomic Commission Chairman Resigns

(Kec. 8 p.m.) WASHINGTON, June 5.1 Mr Lewis Strauss resigned today as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. The resignation becomes effective on June 30, the time of expiration of Mr Strauss’s term. In accepting the resignation with great regret, President Eisenhower said he took some satisfaction from Mr Strauss’s agreement to serve in a new postspecial Presidential assistant in c harge of promoting the atoms for peace programme. In his letter to Mr Eisenhower. Mr Strauss wrote that “for the reasons which I set before you some time ago, I then bejieved and continue to believe that circumstances beyond the control of either of us make a change in the chairmanship of the commission advisable.” Mr James Hagerty, the White House press secretary, said in

response to a question that although Mr Strauss referred only to the chairmanship, he also was resigning as a member of the commission. Mr Hagerty said an announcement of a successor to Mr Strauss probably would be made before the end of this week. The name of Mr Gordon Gray, a former Secretary of the Army and at present head of the Office of Defence Mobilisation, has frequently been mentioned as that of Mr Strauss’s successor. Mr Strauss has frequently been a controversial figure and has been bitterly criticised by some influential Democratic members of Congress pver his attitude toward the development of atomic power in the United States He has also been criticised for his opposition to proposals to ban nfltlear tests. He had been reported as being

at odds with the Secretary of State, Mr Dulles, on the nuclear test suspension issue. A Reuter correspondent said the resignation might hasten developments in a possible international agreement on a nuclear test ban. The Reuter correspondent said the tone of Mr Strauss's resignation letter Indicated that he and the President both’ were convinced that it would be useless to seek Congressional approval for his reappointment. That was the interpretation given to Mr Strauss’s comment that “circumstances beyond the control of either of us make a change in the chairmanship of the commission advisable.”