Evening star., 1953-08-21
What Other Choice?

quick to confirm the Kremin'S special state
ment announcing that Recently in the Soviet
Union the explosion of a type of hydrogen
bomb was carried out with an experimental
aim
According to Mr.. Strauss, our experts de-
tected this explosion on August IL, the day
it occurred, and information received since
then Indicates" that it was not just an
ordinary atomic test (Which is extraordinary
enough) but test involving "both f1ssion and
thermonuclear reactions" This is another way
of saying that it had to do with the develop
ment of the hydrogen bomb, which represents
as CHASTITY advance over A-Weapons as
Aweapons represent over conventional ex-
plosives.
So all of us can be reasonably sure today
that Premier Malenkov was not giving voice to
an empty boast when he declared on August
8 that "the United States has no monopoly in
the production of the hydrogen bomb" This
does not mean, of course that the Soviet Union
is now equipped with that most terrible of
weapons. Actually, the Kremlin itself has
made no such claim On the contrary, in it's
latest statement on the subject, it has gone no
further than to say that it "has taken posses
sion of the secret" of manufacturing the fear
some thing
Quite obviously, to say this is not to say
that the H-bomb already exists in the Soviet
arsenal. What it probably means is that the
Russians are at about the same developmental
stage as we were bit more than two years ago,
when-as Mr.. Strauss has reminded us-the
Acc announced for the first time, in May of
1851, that our experts had set off "thermo-
nuclear" detonations at EniWetok Atoll in the
far Pacific Since then there have been addi-
tional tests of the same kind-tests officially
H. ihol ofH o;rIo
cance," phrase strongly suggesting that our
country has made tremendous, and portentouS,
progress toward arming itself with the hydro
gen destroyer.
Yet even though there is thus every reason
to believe that the United States is we'll ahead
of the Soviet Union in the nuclear ornaments
race, the fact remains that our present lead-as
time goes on-will be cut down to point where
1t will have no real significance. For the day is
coming when the Russians, whose ability in
this field should be taken pretty much for
granted, will have enough of these indescribaby
destructive weapons to wipe out all the great
cities of our Nation, together with tens of mil
lions of Americans. True, the chances are that
we will be equipped to do an even deadlier job
on them in retaliation. But there is precious
little comfort in that, for it could hardly give
us more than a bitter Pyrrhic victory in the
event OF an all-OuC war.
Accordingly, the nations of the world-free
and unfree alike-are desperately in need of
revolutionary control system to head off the
very real possibility of universal annihilation.
Unfortunately, however, despite the fact that
it has paid lip service to such a system in its
statement on its first H-bomb experiment, the
Kremlin up to now has blocked what every
non-Soviet member of the United Nations has
voted fOr-namp1V
plan for the creation of powerful international
authority to own, operate or otherwise supervise
and police all acknowledgement facilities and
activities throughout the globe.
The Russians have said, repeatedly that
they favor something like such an authority
but they want it to be without teeth. They do
not want 1t to be armed with vetoleSS inSpec-
ton system and punitive machinery effective
enough to guard against violations and eva
SionS. They want, instead, a watered-down plan
that could not possibly provide the world with
genuine security. Hence-and this is perhaps
the most dismal fact of our age-the nucear
ornaments race continues to gather momentum
toward a climax that could end in a global
catastrophe too horrible to contemplate.
In such situation, regardless of unbal-
anced budgets and national debts, the United
States and its allies have no choice but to build
up tnelr armed might, both Tor defensive and
retaliatory offensive purposes, to the greatest
degree possible. This must be done in the hope
that the men of the Kremlin, now that they
themselves are aware of the dread meaning of
A-weaponS and the H-bomb, will eventually de-
eide that all of us must live in peace together.
Certainly, unless and until they so decide, we
must be ready at all times for the worst-ready
to deliver more destruction on them than they
can deliver on us, ready to defeat them in war
If they choose to unleash war, ready to do this
even if we can do it only as Pyrrhic victors.
After ALL given today's instruments of mass
destruction and the dark nature of Soviet
policy, what other course can we follow short of
inviting the death of our freedom and of
everything else we hold most dear?