Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-12
Red H-Bomb Gains
Make Haste by U. 5.
Vital, Cole Asserts
By the Assoeintsd Pres,

~ "S NSSSSiSiGO FtesS
-- INDIANAPOLIS, Ind, Oct.
12.-Representative Cole. Re-
publican, of New York said to-
F.. day the United States should
assign wartime urgency to it's
hydrogen bomb program be-
cause. he said, Russia may
shortly have hundreds or even
thousands" of H-bombs.
Mr.. Cole. chairman of the
Senate-House Atomic Energy
Committee, said the Soviets
p exploded a hydrogen weapon"
two months ago today, and he
declared:
IF our own hydrogen effort
falters, as it must not and need
not, the Soviets have it within
their capacity to outStrip us
and outStrip us deciSively-
within a relatively short period |
of time.
Here is the stark arithmetic
of the matter: Seven years
elapsed between Hiroshima and
our own hydrogen test of last
fall; four years elapsed between
the first Russian A-bomb that
we detected and MoScow's hy-
drogen test. These are not very
comforting statistics
THE Soviets have progressed |
with unexpected speed because
they have assigned supreme and
overriding priority to their
project from the very outset"
Sees Reprisal Possible.
Mr., Cole, whose committee
position brings him up-to-date |
information on the United States
atomic program, spoke out in |
a speech prepared for a meet |
ing of State and national Off |
GERS of the American Legion.
Americas atomic stockpile is
large enough ito inf1ict deVas-
tating reprisal on any agrees
Sor" who dareS attack. he said,
adding:
But is our existing atomic
and hydrogen effort big enough |
and bold enough to answer the
challenge of the hour? My own
reply is no. :"
He urged "a hydrogen effort
comparable in scale, dollars, re-
sources, daring and speed to our
entire atomic effort of World
War IL"
Mr.. Cole said that perhaps
T.. the most ominous point of
all" about the Soviet H-bomb
test is this:
1T more and more appears
that the Harvesting of hydrogen
energy for military uses may be
far easier than was commonly
supposed few years ago.
IF hydrogen weapons could
be manufactured only at great
cost. and with great effort we
might console ourselves with the
notion that the Soviets could
manufacture these dreadful
weapons only in small quantities.
Technical Gains Indicated.
But I fear the real facts are
quite otherwise"
Mr. Cole presumably referred |
to reliable reports that American
scientists have found a way to |
trigger the H-bomb without en-
pIoying the tremendous heat of |
q conventional A-bomb.
: Mr.. Coles statement that the
Russian explosion of two months !
ago was that of a hydrogen !
weapon" was somewhat stronger |
than most Eisenhower admins |
tration spokesman have gone. |
Chairman Lewis L. Strauss of /
the Atomic Energy Commission |
has called it a thermometer |
device"-preSumably test mod
ell not suited to practical warfare
use.
President Eisenhower, in a
formal statement last Thursday,
said the August II explosion
was produced by a weapon, or
the forerunner of a weapon, of
power far in excess of conven-
tional tatomic) types"
Not all of Mr.. Coles colleagues
are likely to indorse his call for
a big Stepup in the United
States atomic effort. Senator
Hickenlooper. Republican, Of
Iowa, vice chairman of Mr.. Coles
committee, said in Washington
over the week end that the
program sis going along very
vigorously and I am not pre-
pared to say we should pyra-
mid it."
In his speech Mr.. Cole called,
too. for a buildup in continental
defenSeS which he termed mot
now nearly as strong as they
might be nor as they should be-"
I'll NAf