Evening star., 1950-03-04
Let's Stop WoIIowing in Fear

The other day, in his new role of private
citizen, David E. Lilienthal had some decidedly
sensible things to say about the foolishneSs of
constantly harping on the frightful possibilities
of A-bombs and H-bombs. The possibilities un-
doubtedly are terrible, and they need to be kept
in mind, but he has taken the very sound view
that the calamity hoWlers are not rendering a
real service either to the Nation or the world
when they keep on bowling as if they wanted
to give everybody a nervous breakdown.
OF course, as the recently retired chairman
of our Atomic Energy Commission, Mr.. Lilienthal
has more than enough grim information to
persuade him to concede that today's actual and
potential weapons of mass destruction make the
annihilation of mankind at least theoretically
conceivable. He is willing to concede, too, that
the subject demands great deal of public study
and discussion. But what he does not concede
is that the study and discussion should be
dominated by end-of-th -worlders who seem to
take morbid delight in "the extravagant and
sensational picturing of the horrors of atom
warfare"
In other words, what Mr.. Lilienthal is
against, what he is fed up with, is the more
famboyant of the Scare-the -dopes school" of
experts who feel that the people (the "dopes')
can be alerted to the dangerous nature of our
time only If they are ceaselessly bombarded with
Oil Us VI frightening Idlk-SuCu as tdlk dDOuI
how 500 tons of heavy hydrogen might be used
to wipe out all life on this planet, or about how
the seat of our National Government should be
established in some city other than Washington,
or about how go million Americans should be
dispersed from our urban centers. AS Mr.. Lilien-
thai has put it, speculation about the end of
man adds up to kind of neurotic "wallowing
in the hazards of atomic warfare" and sugges-
tions for the drastic decentralization of our
cities, or for gigantic dispersal of our popula-
tion, amount to nothing but "a lot of high
intellectual nonsense" because the thing cant
be DONE" and "it won't be done"
More than that, as Mr.. Lilienthal has rightly
declared, such talk far from aerting people, can
have the opposite effect For the average human
being has the altogether healthy trait of not
wanting to be afraid. He ceases to be agitated
by the cry of wolff Wolff" when it is repeated
too often, and he tends to grow more and more
bored these days by the endless succession of
under the covers and quiver in his bed. He wants
his life to be reasonably enjoyable. The fright
ening words begin to pail on him, the tocsin-
ringers and the atomic Paul Reveres become
increasingly tiresome and he gets progressively
less and less interested in them until he forgets
about the whole business and turns his attention
away from the caamtous to the pleasant.
Thus, instead of awakening the American
people, the "scare-the -dopes school," by over
doing things bids fair to bore them to the point
of indifference or fill them with the feeling that
the atom leaves them pretty much helpless and
hopeless. Quite obviously that is poor way to
promote national security or sound public think
ing. Nothing could be more sterile. In Mr..
LilienthaPs words, 'To face the dangers of a
very tough world what We need is not to be
overwhelmed by them but to understand them,
and then with courage and resolution and pa
tience face up to them and see them through"
1t is good to have this said by man like
Mr.. Lilienthal Within recent weeks, the Cassan-
dras have been filling the American atmosphere
with just too many high thin cries of woe. We
need to get back to our traditional language of
hope, self-confidence and affirmation. The
atomic speech h-makers-scientists legislators and
all others vocal on the subject-would do well to
stop shouting about the end of the world and
take calmer, more level-headed view of the
immediate realities. We have had too much
wallowing in fear. 1t is spectacle that can win
no respect for us in Russia or anywhere else