Evening star., 1961-06-24
By WILLIAM BENTON

North American Newspaper Alliance
SOUTHPORT, Conn.,, June
24.-The USSR insists it fears
the H-bomb as much as we do.
Its representatives paSsionately
describe how just one big bomb
can kill 10 million people. They
swear they want some form Of
disarmament more than we do.
But the Soviet Union fails to
recognize that peace and dis
armament go hand in hand
with resolving many subStan-
tive issues now at dispute. How.
indeed, can the United States
disarm when Castro is arming
and when KhruShchev is
threatening to take over Ber-
| lin?
The categorical denial of this
fact by Soviet leaders largely
dominated the opening meet
ings in the Crimea where / re-
Gently spent a week in a series
of informal discussions between
a group of prominent American
and Soviet citizens.
Scientists View Noted
There is no doubt the Rus
slams have a sober appreciation
of the horror of a thermonu-
clear war. I. I. ArtobolevSky, a
famous Soviet scientist and an
expert on automation, declared
that the responsibility of scien-
lists who had let the thermo-
nuclear genie out of the bottle
is so great they must stuff the
genie back into the bottle and
bury it forever. Indeed, his
speech seemed to me so charac-
teristic of the feelings of re-
sponsible scientists everywhere
that I told him many Ameri-
can scientists could have made
it without changing a single
word.
The mechanics of disarma-
mentS, rather than a settle
ment of the causes of arma-
ment, seemed to preoccupy our
Russian hosts. In cart-before-
the-horSe logic. they insisted
that disarmament must pre-
cede peace. Although we spoke
as private individuals, the gen.
eral feeling among the Ameri-
cans was that the will for peace
must precede the destruction of
weapons - or at least march
along with it under a develop
ing system of world law.
Several times the Russians
chided the United States for
not having disarmament pro-
poSals and counterpropoSalS
ready to submit for conSidera-
ton at the United Nations.
When an American pointed out
that the new Kennedy admins
tration had worked actively to
formulate the best possible pro-
poSal on nuclear testing, a Rus
sian colleague responded with
the charge that while he would
concede that the American
people do indeed want the test
ban, certain influential circles
in the United States" oppose it,
Fewer Cliches Used
AS the conference progressed,
the Russians used fewer such
stylized Communist Party cli-
ches. But there is a clear need
for agreement on certain basic
facts, and for a new vocabulary,
if our dialogue is to be usefully
enlarged.
The discussions were con-
Quoted with a frankness that
often generated considerable
heat-but there was no rancor.
When the Americans insisted
on the U. N. as a proper frame
work in which to seek to eStab-
lish the rule Of international
law, the Russians expressed
strong dissatisfaction with the
organization and it's secretary
general.
Dag Hammarskjold was &C
cused of being 'the servant of
the West" by one speaker. Proof
of this, the Russian said, was
the fact that II out Of % U. N.
officers of undersecretary rank
came from NATO countries
with only one of the remaining
six from a Socialist" country.
The Soviet intellectual lead