Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-07-04
Strauss Recalls Days
Of NucIeor Decisions
BY J. w. DAVIS
Star staff Writer

Cter St4lI Wrlber
America would not exist as
1t does today, in the belief OF
Lewis L. Strauss, had it not
been for the momentous deci-
sion IL years ago to manufac-
ture the thermonuclear, or n.y.
drogen, bomb.
Mr.. Strauss, former head of
the Atomic Energy Commission
and long active in nuclear de-
velopments. stresses the fate
fulness of the decision in a new
book, published this week (by
Doubleday.
The book, Men and Deci-
sions," tells of the great con-
troversy that surrounded the
atomic bomb and the H-bomb,
as well as other issues, in the
years before, during and after
World War II.
Summing up the arguments
over the H-bomb, and praising
President Truman's decision to
go ahead with it. Mr.. Strauss
wrote:
I'VE were able to test our
first hydrogen bomb in Novem-
Der 1852. The Russians tested
their first weapon involving a
thermometer reaction the fol-
lowing August,
The Presidents decision was
not only sound but in the very
nick Of time.
So Close a Margin
by so close q margin did we
come to being second in arma-
melt. not only in the eyes Of
the world, but in fact. Had we
begun our development after
the successful Russian test,
there Is no reason to believe
that we would have been &C.
corded time to equal their &C
complishment.
THUS the decision, made
when it was, provided us with
the time and posture which
have sustained US to this writ
ing"
It was January 81, 1850. that
Mr.. Truman made known his
H-bomb decision. More than a
year earlier. Mr.. Strauss had
recommended that the work
proceed, and there had been a
storm of controversy.
Some, including Senator
Kefauver, Democrat Of Tennes-
see, cited reports that the max
iInurn force from a conclusion
Of H-bombs could blow the
earth off its axis. Others said
just. a few such bombs would
50 poison the earth's atmos-
phere that life would cease to
exist.
Other major actions dis
cussed by Mr.. Strauss included (
the original decisions to make !
and use atomic weapons, the I
decision to monitor the atmos- K
phere for signs Of Russian nu-
clear tests, and the decision by
which the Senate refused toll
confirm the author as Presi-
dent Eisenhower's Secretary Of
Commerce.
$500 Million Request
Mr.. Strauss included q va
riety of sidelights in his book,
one Of them relating how Gen.
Leslie Groves, in charge Of the
development Of the A-bomb,
came to Gen. George C. Mar
shall with a request for an ex-
ira 5000 million.
Gen. Marshall delayed brief
ly. finishing up q bit of writing
on his desk. then told Gen.
Groves:
General, I have kept you
waiting for that two hundred
million and I am sorry. You
might like to know what ! was
writing while you waited. I was
making out a check to my seed
store for a dollar and sixty
cents worth Of grass seed"
Mr.. Strauss rejection by the
Senate in 1859 for a place in
the Presidents cabinet was an
unusual rebuff, seldom admin
istered since the Republic be-
gan.
Mr.. Strauss account Of his
being turned down, on a vote
Of 1916, notes that on only
nine other occasions over 1901
years had the Senate refused
its consent to a Presidents
cabinet nominations.
Nowhere in his report does