Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1950-08-13
The Effects of Atomic Weapons

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new details and is the most comprehensive study
of its kind yet published, THE Effects of Atomic
WeaponS'-a report drawn up under the direction
of the Los AlamoS Scientific Laboratory-doeS not
. differ fundamentally from the findings made
public by the Strategic Bombing Survey and the
Manhattan Engineer District not long after the
near-eraSure of Hiroshima and NagaSak
Thus the new report, like the earlier Ones
makes anything but comforting reading. Put
together with superb lucidty-even in some of
its most technical partS-it adds up to sonfber
and at points fairly grueSome, assessment of
what the American people must expect in the
event of an atomic assault on the cities of this
Nation. Stated very simply, the thing to be
expected is a CHASTITY combination of awesome
blast pressure, intense thermal radiation, lethal
radoactivity and secondary fires capable of
inf1cting death and destruction on a scale
comparable to that suffered by Hiroshima and
NagaSak in 1945-that is to say, scores of
thousands of dead and injured in each target
area, plus something like total devastation for
a half mile or three-quarters of mile in every
direction from the point of explosion, with
casualties and damage varying from heavy to
light for number of miles beyond that.
Moreover, in thus confirming the basic con-
illusions of the Strategic Bombing Survey and the
Manhattan Engineer District the new report
"a nominal atomic bomb" of the type used
against Japan-not our newer version, which
almost certainly is substantially deader Nor
does the report say much-eXcept in an incidental
and significantly guarded manner-about possible
instruments of Pathological warfare n-explod-
ing radioactive materials "a dust spray misO
that might be used invisibly, to render cities
uninhabitable AS for the still-theoretical hydro
gen weapon-Which conceivably could be at least
1000 times as destructive as the A-weapon-the
Los Alamos study maintains complete silence 1t
adhereS, SO to speak, to the effects of the old
fashioned Hiroshima -Nagasak brand of destroyer
when used in a mid-air burst, burst on the
ground, an underground burst or a burst under
the water.
Within that strictly limited framework, how
ever, the report makes clear that wise planning
and action at this time do great deal-n
palliatlng SenSe-for any American community
hit by the atom. Businessman type of
construction for new buildings; decentralization
where feasible; special protection for vital install
lationS; elimination of combuStible interiors from
sturdy structures now standing; development
of medical treatment for things like radiation
sickness; the erection of relatively inexpensive
but effective shelters; public instruction in safety
and Self-help, and Federal, State and local
cooperation in the formulation of disaster-relief
programs-all these and similar measures. some
OF which have been pretty we'll worked out
already, are advocated by the Los Alamos study
as undertakings that can go far toward Warding
off panic in the streets, cutting down appreciabv
on casualties, and in general softenng the worst
effects Of an atomic attack on the life of our
cities
The same view essentially, has been ex-
pressed in the studies of the Strategic Bombing
Survey and the Manhattan Engineer District
Certainly, given such acknowledgement with the
building up of our aerial defenseS with radar
adequate forces of interceptor planes and adj
vanced anti-aircraft gunS-the uniquely deadly
dangers inherent in an assault by A-WeaponS
could be leSsened to an important degree. That
said, however, what needs to be emphasized is
that all measures of that kind can be no more
than palliatives. For it is true, as the Bombing
Survey declared some years ago, that the only
real security against atomic attack-the onlv
real security for us or anybody else-is the
security of an enduring peace, peace in which
every nation would cooperate earnestly and in
good faith to control the instruments of mass
destruction and harness the atom for the bless
ings it can bestow mankind
But alone among the nations in a manner
that can only be described as a black crime
against humanity, the Soviet Union-deliberately
neutrality-suspicious. to sabotage all efforts to
establish such a peace. So free men, looking
hard in the face of reality and Steeling them
selves to the grim possibilities of the future must
read with care such reports as "The Effects
of Atomic Weapons" and they must prepare
accordingly. Their survival is at stake