Evening star., 1954-04-13

United States under the threat
of an imminent general war.
Aware Foe Was Working.
AS our own atomic potential
increased and developed, we were
aware of the dangers inherent in
comparable developments by the
enemy, and preventive and de-
fenSive measures were very much
on our minds. Throughout this
time the role of atomic weapons
was to be central.
From the close of the war,
when 1 returned to the West
Coast until finally in the spring
of 1947 when I went to Prince
ton as the Director of the In
stitute for Advanced Study, I
was able to spend very little
time at home and in teaching
in California. .
In October, 1c45, at the request
of Secretary Ct War Patterson,
I had testified before the House
Committee on Military Affairs
in support of the May-Johnson
bill, which I endorsed as an in
terim means Of bringing about
without delay the much needed
transition from the wartime ad-
minlstration of the Manhattan
District to postwar manage
ment of the atomic energy en-
terprise.
In December, 1945. and later, I
appeared at Senator McMahon's S
request in sessions of his special
Committee on Atomic Energy,
which was considering legisla-
tion on the same subject.
Under the Craftsmanship of
DR.. Richard Tolman, I served on
a committee set up by Gen.
Groves to consider classification
policy on matters of atomic en-
ergy. For two months. early
in 1916. I worked steadily as a
member of a panel, the Board of
ConsultantS to the Secretary of
States Committee on Atomic En-
.ergy. which, with the Secretary
OF States committee. prepared
the so-called -Lilienthal
report. After the publication of
this report. I spoke publicly in
support of it,.
Consultant to Baruch.
A little later, when Mr.. Baruch
was appointed to represent the
United States in the United Ma
tions Atomic Energy Committee,
I became one of the scientific
consultants to Mr.. Baruch and
his staff in preparation for and
in the conduct of our efforts
to gain support for the United
States plan. I continued as
consultant to Gen. Osborn when
he took over the effort.
At the end of 1861 was ap-
pointed by the President as
member of the General Advisory
Committee to the Atomic Energy
Commission. At it's first meeting
I was elected chairman. and was
reelected until the expiration of
my term in 1852. This was my
principal assignment during
these years as far as the atomic
energy program was concerned
and my principal preoccupation
apart from academic work.
A little later I was appointed
to the Committee on Atomic
Energy of the Research and De-
velopment Board, which was to
advise. the Military Establish
ment about the technical aspects
of the atomic energy program; I
served on it for seven years; and
twice was designated chairman
of special panels set up by the
committee.
| Meanwhile had become wide
ly regarded as a principal author
or inventor of the atomic bomb.
more widely. I well knew, than
the facts warranted. In a mod
est way I had become a kind of
public parsonage.
7 was deluged, as I have been
ever since. with requests to lee
ture and to take part in numer-
Gus scientific activities and pub
lie affairs. Most of these I did
not accept. Some. important
for the promotion of science or
learning or of public policies that
corresponded to my convictions,
I did accept: the council of the
National Academy of Sciences.
the Committee on the Present
Danger, the Board of Overseers
of Harvard College, and a good
number of others.
Explains Letterhead.
"A quite different and I believe
unique occurrence is cited as an
item of derogatory information
that in 1946 ! was listed as
vice chairman on the letterhead
Of the Independent Citizens
Committee of the Arts, Sciences,
Professions, Inc. cited as a
Communist front by the House
Committee on Un-American Ac-
tivitieS."
The fact is that in 1946 when
I was at work on the interna-
tional control Of atomic energy,
I was notified that I had been
nominated and then elected as
vice chairman Of this organiza-
ton.
When I began to see that its
literature included slogans such
as Withdraw United States
troops from China" and that it
was endorsing the criticism
enunciated by the then Secretary
Wallace of United States policy
on atomic energy. I advised the
organization in a letter on Octo-
ber II, 1916, that I was not in
accord with its policy. that I
regarded the recommendations
of Mr.. Wallace as not likely to
advance the cause Of finding a
satisfactory solution for the con-
troll Of atomic energy. and that