Evening star., 1952-07-29
Senator McMohon

No other member of Congress- few Ameri-
cans anywhere, knew as much about the atom
as Senator Brien Mcmahon Having looked into
1t with the greatest care, he was filled with such
awe by it's preternatural power, and by its capac-
ity for either enormous good or enormous evil
that he became man intensely and almost mys-
tically dedicated to the task of controlling it for
the sake of all humanity
In 1914, when Connecticut first elected him
to the United States Senate MIR. Mcmahon was
happily free of catastrophe visions At that
time, he was best known for having done first
class job as head of the Justice Departments
criminal diviSion-a post from which he had
resigned in 1899 to establish successful private
law practice. As senatorial newcomer he was
primarily interested in representing his constitu-
ency and advancing the cause of the Democratic
Party according to the usual rules Of politics
But then, in 1945, there came the atomic shat
tering of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and from
that point on his overriding concern was to
harness the tremendous new force for construc-
tive purposes-above all, to keep it from destroy
ing civilization.
Although then only freshman member,
Mr. McMahon, because of the initiative he had
taken in the matter was named chairman OF the
special atomic committee that the Senate Gre
ated in the 18th Congress. Later, during the
Republican 80th Congress, the committee was
expanded into a joint body representing both
houses, and he was it's leading Democrat, becom-
ing its head after his party rewon congressional
control in 1948. Throughout all of these postwar
years he was undeniably Capitol Hills "Mr.
Atom"-author Of the unprecedented law estab-
fishing civilian rule over our gigantic nuclear-
energy program; chief watchdog for the public
in field necessarily surrounded by high thick
wall of secrecy; constant prod against lethargy
in building up our A-weapons arsenal; and an
eloquent advocate of world control to put an end
to by far the deadliest ornaments race in the
history of mankind.
The longer Mr.. Mcmahon lived with the
atom, and the more he learned about the A
weapons being developed and about progress
toward the indescribably destructive hydrogen
bomb, the greater became his sense of urgency.
His visions of catastrophe grew out Of the hard
and portentous facts made available to him, and
on the basis of those facts he gave voice to Inn
passioned appeals for special new efforts to per-
suade Soviet Russia to agree to genuinely
effective control plan At the same time, aware
that the Kremlin would be unresponSive as long
as our own strength was deficient, he delivered
equally impassioned appeals for vast expansion
of our atomic program to equip our Army, Navy
and Air Force with frepower far more revolu-
tionary and far deadlier than any heretofore
known.
It was not given to Mr.. McNahon-dead now
In his 48th year-to carry on with the work he
regarded as q high mission. But If ever there Is
real atomic control, or If American strength in
A-weapons and H-weaponS is developed to q
point formidable enough to make the Kremlin
forswear aggression, a large measure Of credit
will be owing to him. And II the day comes when
nuclear science succeeds In conquering diseases
q the typepthat has conquered him, he Fin de-