The Wilmington morning star., 1946-10-31
Atomic Board Group
By ARTHUR KROCK


agement of the fitness of the five men whom
President Truman today named as the Atomic
Energy Commission of the United States to
note that one Or two, perhaps more, Of them
will perform their momentous duties because
the President was unable to get the services
of certain citizens of more conspicuous achleve-
ment. AS a matter of public relations, as well
as of concern for the great enterprise, Mr..
Truman wanted the Commission to be studded
and the two Comptons.
Some of the Presidents first preferences
were unable to divest themselves of those OBJ
legations or connections which Commission
membership requires the five to exchange for
an almost monastic separation from worldly
interests. But his final selections represent a
triumph of careful choosing on his part, and
on theirs, devotion - a high ideal and sub
mission to a call name of public duty.
Rear Admiral ST.. UsNR, has just COM
pleted four years of distinguished war service
in which his contribution was so highly esteem
ed that he became one of the few Navy re-
servists in history to attain flag rank. He had
1lIuIil W Nv Vail thS SolA "a - III - Wan
procurement of the ordnance that smashed the
japanese Navy, and he was one of the early
secret workers on atomic energy and on the
perfection of the almost human fuses that
picked their own targets while in flight.
He has only recently returned to the banking
house in Wall Street of which he is a partner,
free again to engage in finance, own securities
and take his part in the solution of public
;--,o- L. ..z 11aI;-- f--J .:4:
charities and other constructive movements on
an even more generous scale than before,
though many unpublished lists of contributors
attest how generous this has already been.
Now as a member Of the Commission, he must
rlgldly, finally and wholly detach himself from
material interests and activities which are
open to nearly any other citizen, being obi
gated by the law even to Withhold his expert
enced counsel from members Of his own family
In such matters.
The same sacrifice is exacted from the other
members of the new Commission, of course.
and their careers also must be entirely aban-
doned Tor at least two years. The chairman,
Mr.. Llllenthal, gives up the Tennessee Valley
authority, which he has brought to a very high
point OF public appreciation and benefit. A
neWspapermans thriftless preference for his
own trade has been remarked often enough to
establish 1t as a phenomenon of human be-
havior, and Mr.. Waymack is among the out
standing and most joyous practitioners of that
trade. If Professor Bacher of Cornell is at all
like other schoolmasters, he will relinquish
sadly his little kingdoms Of the classroom and
the laboratory, especially since what is almost
a vow OF silence goes with membership on the
commission. And monastic obligations
are hardly what seem to have appealed to
Mr.. Pike in his active and progressive public
career.
1t is known that some, if not all. of the
appolntees to the Commission were reluctant
to serve partly because of the exactions
imposed on their lives as normal citizens; part
ly because they are enthusiastically interested
IN what they are doing. Not improbablv this
reluctance arose also from the knowledge on
the part OF one or two that their names would
not nave been announced by the President to-
day II prior choices had been able to qualify
or to Justify Withdrawing promises thew had
1lrmly made. But these considerations vanish
ca IN the knowledge that the President thinks
them also worthy of RESPONSIBILITIES as great
as any men have ever assumed in peacetime'
and in the realization that Mr.. Truman did not
oVerstate the responsibilities.
Inc CHAIRMAN of such a group is naturally
OF the greatest interest to the public, and by
virtue OF his office he will come more in con-
tact with 1t and its government than the other
members will. These factors will bring Mr..
"lleHlildl unQeT closer inspection than ever be-
fore in his long and at times contentious ca
reer as a public servant, as an engineer and
| as an expert on problems of electric power. In
the opinion of those who know him best Mr.
Llllenthal will stand the scrutiny well.
He is a political progressive who on occa.
slons has been charged with radicalism Rlt
his lnsistence has much to dc with the fart
that the IVA is an illustration OF decentraliza-
tlon OF government, in which he strongly be-
leves, of local administration and regional on
terprise detached from Washington in So far
as was possible. This is not an expression of
the political radicalism which most necn1e
have in mind when they use the term
According to John Lord O'Brian. himself mn
OF the most eminent and self-sa crisicino If nh
lie servants, Mr.. Lilientha1 has who1v s,o,,
his personal interest in government work and
has denied himself the ease and fortune ,.bioh
otherwise would surely have been his wIhen
Congress was investigating the IVA Mr. -
lienthal was asked to give a list of his secrri
ties and like holdings of value. He ren1iad
he had none of any kind, which was and sin
is the fact.-New York Times. ~