Evening star., 1947-02-16
Atom and Mems Minds

An unWnOleSOme menCal aCClCuQe is
animating much of the opposition to
David E. Lilienthal. More than few
members of Congress who have come
out against him acknowledge that
he is a man of great ability and
integrity and that his Americanism
is above suspicion. But still they
do not want to see him become
chairman of the United States
Atomic Energy Commission. They
say he is too much of New Dealer.
They say he is prejudiced against
private enterprise. They suggest
that people with investments in coal,
oil, gas and hydroelectric power are
likely to suffer, somehow, if he is
allowed to head the Acc.
But when reasonable men say
these things are they really fearful
of Mr.. Lilienthal or of something
else? They must know that nuclear
f1ssion is appallingly dangerous and
that private enterprise will be able
to operate in the field only under
strictest Government control and in
very small way. They must know,
toe, that our Acc, with or without
Mr.. Lilienthal, is not going to plunge
America into an economic convul-
sion, and that if it is to be faithful
to its trust it is not going to hold
back the clock, either. In the cir
cumstances, their misgivings re-
garding Mr.. Lilienthal seem super
fcial-a mere outward sign of
much deeper inner confusion and
disquiet revolving around fear of
the atom itself.
The atom, after all, is essentially
a frightening thing. It's potentiali-
ties for good are breath-taking, but
even more breath taking are it's po-
tentialities for evil-evil that could
come close to annihilating the whole
of humanity and the world. It's
preternatural qualities, it's stagger-
ing implications, have had pro-
foundly unsettling effect on mems
minds everywhere. 1t is new. 1t is
unprecedented. The dread it Gre
ates overshadows the hope it Gre
ates. It is our secret" at the mo-
ment, but before five years have
passed the "secret" may be ours no
longer. It has filled the interna-
tional air with dark fears and Sus-
picions. We wonder grimly about
Russia, for example, and Russia
wonders not less grimly about us.
It has rocked the sense of security
of all of us. It has tangled nerves,
stirred emotions and made us sensi-
tive to things that might or might
not be under the bed.
In such an atmosphere the ma
ture of the opposition to Mr..
Lilienthal is not altogether surpriS-
ing. 1t is a bad atmosphere, do
mestically and internationally. Un-
less it is dispelled we are all going
to have a dangerous time of it,
The atom calls for new patterns of
thought and action. The old pat
terms simply will not do. The CEN
tral and inescapable facts of the
problem are that this force is within
reach of every nation of consequence
and that it must be rigidly con-
trolled and carefully developed not
merely by national agencies like our
Acc, but by a great revolutionary
world authority without parallel in
history.
The mind of man will either rise
to this challenge with faith, cour-
age and vision or humanity will
succumb to a fear neurosis threat
ening civilizations death. This
danger will become more than a
possibility if America and the world
at large yield to the panic type of
thinking displayed by some of the
opposition to Mr.. Lilienthal.