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10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Christian A. Herter.md
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---
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
tags:
- Person
- Government Official
- USA
- Nuclear
- Israel
summary: "Secretary of State under Eisenhower who confronted Israel and France over the Dimona nuclear reactor after being shown photographic evidence."
---
Christian A. Herter served as the Secretary of State under President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] from 1959 to 1961. In early December 1960, he was reportedly upset upon being shown a photograph of [[Dimona]] taken from a highway, and called in [[Avraham Harman]], the Israeli ambassador, for an explanation. Herter also conducted his own independent checking, asking an aide to approach the French about their involvement with [[Israel]]'s nuclear program.[^1]
Herter was instructed by the White House to give a formal diplomatic protest (demarche) to the French. He approached [[Maurice Couve de Murville]], the French foreign minister, who assured the [[State Department]] that the Israeli reactor was benign and any plutonium generated would be returned to [[France]] for safekeeping, a statement later revealed to be a lie.[^1]