Evening star., 1950-01-08
Reading and Writing
Let's Not Try to Vote Ourselves
Into Eden Suddenly, Says DR.. Bush
By Mory McGrory

By Mary MeGrory
The ordinary citizen. since the
first blast on Hiroshima, has been
pessimistic. not to say panicky
about the future In an atomic era.
Many have become increasingly
skeptical about the workability OF
democratic processes in an armor-
ed world.
So when DR.. Vannevar Bush,
who probably knows more than
any living man what science
means to waffare. and who more
over, served for 10 years in one of
the most delicate and critical
posts this Government has ever
devised, comes forward to profess
an undimmed optimism about the
the worlds tomorrows and an un-
impaired faith in democracy, the
ordinary citizen cannot help feel
ing enormously bucked up.
DR.. Bush's Modern Arms and
Free Men," was written, he said
in an interview at Carnegie In
stitution, of which he is presi-
dent, "as an antidote to the panic
statements which came at the end
of the war"
Angered by Wailings.
A tall, spare, pipe-smoking
Yankee with humorous blue eyes,
DR.. Bush gained reputation for
plain speaking when as head of
the wartime Office of Scientific
Research and Development. he
was heard with the utmost respect
in the highest war councils. He
was, both as a scientist and a
citizen, angered by the wailings of
the host of Cassandras who rose
up to make nightmare prophecies
about the chronological future.
1t was in 1947 that he sat down
with the definite intention of
making a dispassionate analysis of
the tough facts" to counteract
the panic statements of people
who were not in a position to
know the facts, who had no
knowledge of biological warfare
and who had the nerve to tell
people they were about to be wiped
OF the face of the earth"
The writing took DR.. Bush two
years.
"The tough facts remain" he
went on, but I wanted Amer
leans to face them rather than
back away from them" If they
had been complacent I would
have done the exact opposite.
would have written to scare them.
Must Defend Ourselves.
II wrote to convince them that
there is something they can do
about the atomic bomb. We can
and have to do a decent job of
defending ourselves.
"At the end of the war, the
American people were living in a
FOOLS paradise. They said we
didn't need strong Air Force or q
strong Navy, just vote the Air
Force few bombers to carry the
bomb to Russia.
did they think that these
tough. harsh people were going
to sit there and wait for lis to
drop it?"
While he deplores the disunity
among the military which was
aired in the recent squabbles over
the B-36, he feels that these diff
ferences Of opinion are a direct
reflection of the confusion and
indecision among the people.
Orders From Russia.
For people who would cut down
defense spending now, he has q
sharp and ready answer. Com
menting on a recent statement
by DR.. Leona Baumgartner, di-
rector Of the Children's Bureau,
who complained that only few
thousand dollars of Federal funds
are used for child health research
while immense sums go for atomic
research. DR.. Bush said. I'm all
for child health research and Ger
tainly for extended medical serv-
ices in the schools. but if we spend
money needed for defense for that,
we'd probably have a fine, healthy
bunch Of children in the next 10
years all right, but we'd also be
taking orders from Moscow"
The inventor of the electric
brain" doesn't care for other kinds
OF what he calls soft thinking" I"