Evening star., 1950-02-21
Target Washington

Ii Is d measure OF CIle luIlQ CIldTdCIeT ol our
age that serious attention must be paid to pro-
poSalS enviSioning the establishment of the
Nations capital in some city other than Wash
ington. When we still were young Republic,
such proposals were not uncommon, but they
were based on relatively frivolous considerations
and therefore failed to get anywhere. The ones
being made today, however, are something else
again. They are not to be laughed at. They
demand the most careful study. We can no more
afford to ignore them than we can the atomic
bomb and kindred weapons of mass destruction
Thus-as submitted by Representative Chet
Holifield, an experienced member Of the Joint
Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy-the
latest OF these proposals Is predcated on the
grimly obvious fact that this beautiful city Of
ours would be target of first priority in any
future war with A-weaponS. If one of those
weapons (possibly a hydrogen bomb should fall
here there would be little or nothing left of the
place. Instead of a seat OF government, there
would remain only radioactivated shambles in
which most members OF Congress, our top mill
tary leaders, several Supreme Court Justices, the
majority of the cabinet and even the President
himself conceivably would be numbered among
the dead. In short with its nerve center de-
stroyed, the country would be incapable Of
governing itself as Federal entity.
For his own part, after having brooded over
this spine-chilling picture, Mr.. Holifield has
arrived at the firm conviction that immediate
action should be taken to establish an alternate
capital in which the Nation would be able to
carry on regardless of Washingtons fate. But
he realizes-at least by mplcation-that it is
much easier to propose such a move than to
put it into effect How can we hold a seat of
government in reserve? What can we do now
case of war? How can we transplant the execu-
tive, judicial and legislative branches to some
other part of the country (perhaps scattering
them in several cities) and still govern and
defend ourselves with real efficiency and essential
central direction? And what is to stop an enemy
from trying to obliterate the new set-up just as
soon as it is organized? And would not Detroit
and other great industrial centers be as likely
targets as Washington? And II decentraliza-
ton or alternate sites are proposed for Wash
ington, is not the proposal quite as pressing in
the case of industrial centers?
These are but few Of the many questions
that can be raised in connection with any move
Washington proposal. In an effort to find the
answers and to determine the feasibility OF his
own idea MI. Hofield advocates the creation OF
a seven-member special commission. to study
every aspect OF the problem Among other things
the commission-which would be made up Of
representatives of all the key elements of our
government-would weigh the advisability of
amending the Constitution to set up succession"
procedures to cope with the possibility that the
President, his cabinet, the Supreme Court and
most Of Congress might be wiped out in an
atomic war. The group could also evauate the
effectiveness OF what the National Security Re-
sources Board is doing to keep the Federal
hat m
target city.
Some such study would seem to be in order.
AS long as the cold war continues unabated,
proposals like those Of Mr.. Holifield and the
Office OF Civilian Defense probably will multiply.
Their practcality-which is open to grave
doubt in several respects-ought to be deter
mined one way or the other For If they are
put forward higgledy- -pggledy without expert
evaluation, they will tend to generate widespread
confusion and even fright. The public needs
better guidance than that.