.... :}.w~f~·. 

,Matt~r. Of Fact. 

REF ID:A39414 

,. 

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• • • • • By Joseph and Stewart AlsQp 

:'(Jpp~nbre~mer's A.tom------------ .. ~ IT IS :~precederited for ~~ fair~ in 'which t~o great ~ow· ment in munitions,· aircraft and mere · ma"azine article to be er~ will each be in a P«?S~tion missiles" (new) "prqcedures for · . ,.. .· · . 1 to pQt an end to the civiliza. obtaining_ and analyzing infor· 

passed on by the Nationa Se~ . · tion and life of the other mation," and · "above all the . curity Council. Tlfe highest though not without risking it~ effective . use of space in air 

> IJliicy·making ·organ of ·the own. We may be likened to defense," have now been stud-

'.' American Government is not two scorpions.i~ .a botue,-each ied by a highly qualified com· · in the business of giving clear· capable of kilJu;ig .the oth~r,. mitte~ headed by Dr. ¥ervin . . . ances: In the' . past, indeed, 't!ut only a.t \he risk of his own J; Kelly. 9f the J;1ell Labo~ato· \ 

'the council has only taken ad· ~e. . · ries. This comI01ttee, he mdi·. 

' vance notice of such porten~ 'This prospect d~e~ not_ tend _cates, b~s .at least 'sJiow» .the 

1 . , tous iofficial . utterances as the to make for serenity, and the W!lY we should go. . ·. . ... announce'ment .. of the .first .. basic: fact ~at needs to ~e co~- A better. air defense, he con· I .. soviet·. atomic .. explosion ,in . mumcated. is t~at the time i.n eludes, "w-111 mean, first of all,. • .. SepleJl\ber, 1949. · · . which,, this will happen IS some. delay in ~he ~minence ~ 

· ... DraJi'·informal. sense, at any short. of the threat; (it) will mean a 1 

'. . rate.. the ·first exception to . a+-1 . . disincentive-a defensivt" de· 

·." thes"_.·tules is. an article on : WITHIN this short time, Dr. terrent-to the 1 Soviet Union; ·. "Atpnlic ;yveapons and· Ameri· Oppenheimer .continues, the <it) will mean that the time · can~]:>.olfey," by Dr._J.- Robert. 'highest need is for "the great·. when the Soviet.Union can be 

' ·· · .. Opperuutimer, appearing in the est attainable freedom of ac· ·confident· of destroying the 

< .. eurre~r 1'su~. of Foreign Af·: tion." To attain, and to main· p~oductive power of America 

'' fafi's._:· · -; .. · . . .. tain, this national freedom of will be somewhat further off...- • . This article by · the ··great action, Dr. Oppenheimer offers very much further off than if 

'. lclentis~ w~o had. the. l.argest · three prescriptions. First, tell we did nothi~; <!t> will mean, ·: •.responSibtμty f~r ~e ~omb our. people the facts. Second, . even. to our. Allies, that the 

:·,that fell · on · Hl.l'Oshima, · was I tell our Allies the facts. Third, c:on~ued existence ~f a strong originally. prepared as an ad·. do what can be done to im· · America will be a solid cer· . · dress to a se!ect ~o~p of stu· prove our air defenses. tainty which should discour~. 

'.dents of foreign relations. The , The main facts are known to age the outbreak of war.".:. ' : address, thougl! off the .record, · the enemy, he declares. More· G"f..i . · 

; caused expresSions of co~cern over our people and oul" Allies THIS · w ld . th" k · by ·the staff. of the National . • you ou 10 , :. Security Council .. Hence .the -are ~wed the facts. The very ought not to have ·agitated Securlty Council had. to be. .workmgs of our free ~~ciety anyone, much. less the .eminent 

asked 'whether there was any depend upon the fr~e. mter· staff of the National Security: . . : . ob$tacle, · when Foreign Af·.' play, t~~ conftct of op~?n a~d Council.' Why then was there a . ; fairs wanted to give·· the ad· de~a.te, and from a publ~c threat of an official attack of : · dress· to a larger public. . A opmion · (confid~~~e) that it nerves, about this rigidly re. 

. species of "nihil obstat," which . ·~~w_s the truth.. ,, ·· strict~d, painfully incomplete .· was .not a. formal clearance I do not thm~, . he s~ys, speaking-out? The answer is as · and· did"not'-.imply ·either a~ ~'that a coun.try like· ~ur~ can simple. as it 'is unpleasant.' If . ;proval .or'_ disapproval, was m any r~al sense survive .~f we the plain truth about the na· : &ranted iJl .the end. . '·. . !ll"e afr8ld of ~ur people. , tiOnll1 situation is told to the 

'.. ,.·:.·,: · · ''.a+.I . · ,.; A.s ~o the improvement of. American .people, ,·something 

'. ·.AGAINST thl b kg d .·. ou~ air def~nses, ~r. Oppen. ·will;have·to be.done about it.· 

1.. . • ~ ac ~un • .. he1mer admits that no .U.r de· Something ·'cannot' be:' done 

'· .. there .is special mterest F: Dr.· fense system now enviSioned b t ·t ·hil · l · L ._Oppenheim~r·s efforts to look~ . .'·will constitute "a permanent. a hou 1' w lie wofe ab so. pursue · .. at the a.tomic armaments. race •. · . · a appy po c:y USiness-as- I , '·in "the large light of history," solub?.~. of tf.e problem 0!. the usu.al. So the greatest of our· , . ff indeed there· is to be history," ;11tom. But, he goes on, that national problems is shoved . . · '.and :.to. ·"reveal the nature of ' ~ no · reasop for not· doi1;1-1 ~ . under· 1he 'rug •. And tbere .,the· .:dt. without revealing anythil)g~" little bet~er than we a~ domg. problem grows m darkness. '. 

; "Dr. -Oppenheimer~ it should' be ·~ He pomt~. fUt·that .. de.v~lop· :owrl&'ht.19M, N. Y.·~ctTrlbu~ •.. JU: .. : .. noted, is. l;leit.he:i: 11~not' -------'--· · sensational.· He does not deal· - in numbers of atomic bombs or precise methods· of delivery, in 

kilowatts or .. megadeaths. ·He . ··begins simply by recording.· his 

own ."fQugb gtJess" as·to .Soviet : atomic "progress. · · . · . r: .• "I think," · he · writes "that 

·'tlie 'V. s. S."'R. ·is· abo~t four ~ years behind us. · And I . think . that the. scille of• its operation · · is not ·as·big as,ours was four. · y'ears ago; ff may be sonie· · thing like: half as. big.'.' ·. Remarking that "th!• f?,Unds' :. comfo~ably .. reassurmg, . he : · then procee~ to show the ·cold·. · neila ·of· the ·comfort ot our so- : called· "atomic·'iead."""'He. re~ minds :hiS · :readers· that the . primitive;. bomb ·that fell' on · . Hiroshima killed 70,000 people: ·He suggests· that· an atomic .~lead · does · not matter veey 

·.·much· ·:when both sides have ·. : enough lfombs, 'much· more ter.' . rible than the- bomb ·that fell 

: on ~oshima, so that they can : utterlY destroy each other. He : · bl~akly remarks ·that in these · clrcunista.nces types of bombs · and siz11s Of a.tomic stockpiles · matter much less than ''the art 

• of. delivery and. the. art. of . · defense."·; . : ·' . · .. · There ;has '~been relatively little'"done ··to · $ecure ·.our de:' fense.~ ~agal.ilst · the. atom." he · : . adds .o grimly: And a · little 

later,· he· says further: "We ~8,1. . aliticipate a state of . af.