Evening star., 1951-10-06
Hope and the Atom

We haze reached the stage ,Uhere tUe can
oegn auth atomic aoeapons) to meet the tactical
needs OF the armed services 1Uhile still retaining
our immense capacity for strategic retaliation
=. Not only does this proDide hope that ,ue can
stop aggression once it has started but insofar as
those Uho might be contemplating aggression
understand the tuH import OF ,ohat am trying
to say it propides q real hope for peace
These excerpts are from the speech delivered
at Los Angeles by Gordon Dean. chairman of the
Atomic Energy Commission. 1t was a speech
which lifted-or which seemed to lift-a bit Of
the secrecy that has shrouded our atomic weap-
ons program, and which limited at vastly signif-
cant and hopeful developments in that field
Perhaps one should refrain from reading
too much into the speech. 1t is we'll to bear in
mind that on the same day Chairman Mahon of
the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee
was saying, in apparent reference to a recent
remark by the President that Fantastic state
mentS about fantastic weapons are entirely too
fantastic. No right thinking person is going to be
misled by all this superman talk of push button
warfare"
And it is also we'll to remember that Defense
Secretary Lovett only last week spoke out against
the Exaggerated impression that quick, easy
and inexpensive security might be now at hand"
There is not necessarily any conflict, how
ever, between these restraining admonitionS and
MIR. Deans remarks. AS chairman of the Atomic
Energy Commission, he should know whereof
he speaks. If the over all effect Of what he said
is to encourage confidence and hope he must
have intended that result.
This paragraph from Mr. Deans address
might be selected representative of the tenor
OF what he had to say concerning the advances
in tactical atomic weapons development: Il
would like to be able to tell you how far into this
nro uYo hou oIxox BOD
do SO would be to give the Communists the kind
OF information they would dearly like to have as
basis for their evil calculations can say, how
ever, that we definitely in this new era It is
not something that Is entirely around the cor
ner. We are in 1t noW-at least far enough to uti-
ze the tactical capabilities (of) the atom in GER
tam kinds Of situations that might be termed
ideal. And, with each passing day, our design
and production progress is steadily adding to the
number OF situations in which atomic weapons
can be tactically employed against military tar
gets
This with other language in the speech, sug-
geStS that Korea may produce such a situation,
although this is only speculation It also invites,
however, an even broader inference
The Russians have been striving. or so we
nave supposed, to reach degree of strength in
atomic bombs that would cancel out our Strate-
glc Super1ority-a situation in which it would be
prohbitively costly for either side to engage in
atomic attacks on the cities of the other II that
stage could be reached, then the Russians might
be tempted to gamble, to give the marching sig
nal to their overwhelming ground forces in the
belief that the fight would be restricted to
conventional ground war
Mr.. Dean is telling them not to deceive them
selves. Il think, he said, "our recent technolog-
lcal advancements constitute a message not of
despair, but of hope-hope to the millions of
people throughout the world who have feared
that the only two alternatives left to mankind
are gradual submission to persistent Communist
encroachment on the one hand or atomic obt-
Grafton on the other. We now have the third DOS
sbility OF being able to bring to bear on the ag-
greSsor himself-at the place of his aggression
the fruits of our chronological capabilities, and
to meet the invading force in the field with fire.
power that should cancel out any numerical ad-
vantage he might enjoy
That, if soundly based, is indeed MESSAGE
of hope. If Mr.. Deans words mean what they
seem to mean, we have or can have, power
which may remove the threat of atomic war
from this world. If it lies within our means
to do this, who will say that the cost is too great
or the effort too severe?
Che0ner Trnnsorenn;~ Air TrnvaI