the United Nations General Assembly that focused on reducing men in armies of great powers, banning nuclear weapons, and an overall reduction in military expenditures in all countries. The plan was initially turned down by Western nations, but it was suggested that a more limited plan might be considered acceptable. In the summer of 1957, the Soviet Union introduced a new limited disarmament plan before the U.N Disarmament Commission. The plan proposed armed force reductions for the U.S, China, Soviet Union, France, and Great Britain. The plan called for renouncing the use of nuclear weapons, and furthermore, a compliance system based on aerial photography of locations in Europe where the Warsaw Pact and NATO forces were stationed. The plan was ultimately rejected by the West once again. This then led the Polish government to suggest a disarmament plan of their own. A Polish Proposal to the Soviets The initial idea for a nuclear-free zone first appeared in the journal Swiat a Polska in early 1957. The Soviets were initially delayed in considering the Polish proposal, however, in September 1957 the Soviet Chargé d’affaires in Poland told the Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland, Minister Marian Naszkowski, that the Soviets sought to support the plan. The plan, with further development, would eventually take the name of former Polish Workers Party member Adam Rapacki. Rapacki’s Presentation to the U.N Assembly, 2 October 1957 Rapacki’s proposal at the UN General Assembly was largely made in the context of disarmament and limited to an undertaking by Poland, Czechoslovakia, East and West Germany to refrain from importing, manufacturing, or maintaining nuclear weapons within their territories. In his speech, Rapacki focused on the proposal’s value as a first step towards breaking the disarmament deadlock between the Soviet Union and the West and employed the term “constructive coexistence”. Furthermore, he emphasized its separate nature from other proposals for neutralization, demilitarization, and European security suggested by the Soviets and Western nations. The speech also spoke to the potential consequences of nuclear weapons in Central Europe, and moreover indicated that the Polish delegation would give its unfettered support to any initiative that sought to curb nuclear testing. The Plan Following the announcement of the Plan at the UN General Assembly, Rapacki sent a memorandum to the Warsaw embassies of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, the UK, the US, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, the USSR, and Sweden on February 14, 1958,