THE FUTURE OF ATOMIC ENERGY

...One of Alabama's younger leaders described it in these words: "We can write of great dams...

...have now lost their force, because of one fundamental fact of enormous importance: namely, that the Russian rulers have made it clear that so long as the USSR is governed writhejCommunist dictatorship there can be no hope for any modification, of the ultimate Soviet goal of world dominatloni end that therefore every conciliatory move which the Kremlin may make must be interpreted as possible trkkery;: dictated by some . devious scheme to injure us...

...After months of hearings and extended public discussion, Congress decided that although atomic energy is of centra] importance to the national defense, it also holds such broad implications for our health, agriculture, industry, education—in short our whole way of life— that it must be fitted into the democratic scheme of civilian self-government...

...They can stand now and talk out in meeting...

...It is to accept the Soviet concessions at face value, trustingly...

...We can choose deliberately' and consciously whether the machine or man comes first...

...In a single decade the face of a region larger than England was substantially altered, a region comprising parts of seven Southern states...

...case with modern technology...

...We will move from decision to decision, from issue to issue, and you and I and all of us will be in the midst of this struggle for the rest of our days...

...Whether millions of, human beings shall go .hungry or be fed, shall suffer di'sease or enjoy good health, be condemned to drudgery or use machines, to relieve their toil—more and more such human questions sre determined by modern technology.-Even more than this: technology and,the machine have become central' figures in the perilous struggle to safeguard the free spirit of mat) and to establish a peace that is a true peace...

...Yet the significant advances have been made in the thinking of a people...

...Why the Pollsters Failed...

...u» How extensively thould the American people support medical research in this field, and timllarly research in nutrition and in increasing the pro., duction of food by novel methods opened up by these new develop- - ments...

...But most important of all is the change in the spirit of the Valley's people...

...f Moreover, there are several factors which make it virtually impossible that biological warfare could be controlled by a system of international inspection...

...Technical development under such direction will not further freedom or will do so only by accident, by sheer coincidence...

...And from such facts the great issue of our lifetime emerges...

...I venture to say that the machine and technology are neither good nor evil in themselves...

...state parks and county health facilities — these and many other changes make it a new Valley today...

...WHEN THE BARUCH PLAN was first presented to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission in June, 1948, it received widespread support among the American people...

...appeared in a recent issue oi The New Vernier...

...to lose our unquestioned superiority in atomic weapons, and to stand we know not where in the field of biological weapons...

...today they are front page I news, affecting men's daily lives :and daily decisions...

...These arguments, compelling as they may seem to some, will certainly fail to convince others that the acceptance of the Baruch plan would diminish rather than increase our security...

...What do we then do...

...They are evil only if he puts them to evil purposes...

...We should state that if (as seems unlikely) our scientific and military experts can devise a more extensive plan,' which would offer us and the rest of the world security from both atomic and biological weapons, then we will present that plan to the world...

...Hence the discovery of an easily-produced vaccine or other protective agent against one of the more virulent epidemic diseases could, in effect, present a decisive weapon to any nation which had sole possession of the discovery...

...We would not dream of throwing away our naval superiority unless we were entirely convinced that all danger of war with Russia had been eliminated...

...and one which, alas, would even then probably be ineffective...

...After the war, he became chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Thit article is bated on a speech delivered by Mr...

...They are no longer afraid...

...Yet today the United States is in the strange and undignified position of urging the Soviet Union to accept the Baruch" plan for international control of atomic energy, which would abolish our most powerful weapon without, in all likelihood, depriving the Russians of a single bomb—and certainly without depriving, them of an arsenal of atomic weapons comparable with ours...

...It is: Are machines and science to be used to degrade man and destroy him, or are they to be used to augment the dignity and nobility of humankind...

...The questions are manifold...

...strong sentiment in favor of any reasonable action which might help create the international trust and good-will so necessary to insure peace...

...Perhaps as widely known an illustration in other parts of the world is afforded by the development in the Tennessee Valley...

...We should announce to the world that the Russian rulers—not the Russian people—have made it plain to all the free.world that their price for lasting peace is our submission, and that we are not willing to pay that price...

...The great Tennessee River has been changed: more than a score of huge dams make it do what men tell it to do...

...Unless the applications of research and technology are consciously related to the central purpose of human . welfare, unlets technology is defined and directed by those who believe in people and in democratic and ethical ends and means, it could be that the more research money we spend the further we miss the mark...

...More huge cyclotrons and nuclear research reactors are not enough...

...There are times when these matters are controlled by men to whom the people are only a "market"—a market to whom to sell MW gadgets, a labor market to make the gadgets, a political market to be cajoled and organized and voted and coerced...

...Finally, we should announce that if our experts are not able to do this, then we will renew our offer of the BarUch plan when, and only when, the Russian people become masters of their government rather than vice versa, and open to the world those channels through which friendship and Understanding between them and the rest of the world can be developed...

...They have caught the vision of their own powers...

...It is hardly conceivable that our intelligence agencies can keep a complete, up-todate list of all the biological weapons which the Russians have...

...That modern man can completely change his environment is a matter of common observation...

...Then, as now, itj was felt that we could never be secure so long as any nation had atomic bombs or was striving to make them...

...If anything could further that end, it was believed, surely it would be our unprecedentedly generous offer to scrap our atomic weapons in exchange for an effective guaranty that no one thereafter would make such weapons...

...and even if they could, our medical scientists might still be quite unable to predict how effective our defensive measures would be...

...The realization that there is no longer any early prospect of eliminating weapons of mass destruction is just as essential to intelligent consideration of the problem of national security as is the knowledge that such weapons exist...

...No MAN IS MORE QUALIFIED to discuss Mankind's use of science than David Lilienthal...

...One serious result of this anomaly is the fact that it creates a confused and unrealistic state of mind in the American population...

...But it is almost certainly impossible for anyone to be sure at any given time whether the United States or Russia has superiority in the field of bological weapons...

...WE HAVE A CHOICE...

...of the building of home-grown industry and of electricity at last coming to the farms of thousands of farm people in the Valley...

...fields* once dead and hideous with gullies now fruitful and green to the sun, secure with pastures and meadows...

...One such recent choice was the decision of the American people, through their elected representatives, in favor of civilian as distinguished from military direction of the scientific and technical development of atomic energy...

...The acceptance of this plan would reduce our military strength relative to that:of Russia much more seriously than would the scrapping of our two navies...

...How do the people tee to ii that our univertiliee and research institulions shall remain free of Government or military control when it is necessary that such vatt tumt for research and development be provided to them by the Federal treasury...

...77 The guiding of technical activity is safe, in terms of the human spirit, only when it is in the hands of those, in private business and in public agencies, who have faith in the individual human being...

...However, those who are themselves unconvinced may nevertheless agree that such considerations as those given above would, in all likelihood, persuade at least 33 Senators to oppose any treaty which incorporated the plan...

...Lilienthal at the Commencement of Lehigh University...

...More fine laboratories, more extensive projects in physical and social research are not enough...

...The Soviet rulers would, from that time on, let no day pass without repeating in every propaganda organ at their disposal that the United States had never intended / to destroy Its atomic bombs or to agree to international control of atomic energy—that from the very beginning the Baruch plan was only a trick of false propaganda...

...Soviet Russia and the Baruch Plan By Abram V. Martin IF RUSSIA should propose a naval disarmament treaty which called for the scrapping of all naval units except those needed for such services as ice patrol, it is obvious that the United States would immediately reject the proposal...

...There can be no doubt whatever that today the United States has an enormous superiority over Russia in the field of atomic weapons, and it is almost certain that we can retain our superiority in that field...

...There are two possibilities...

...In fact, it might easily happen that in the course of such* research a scientist .would uncbver knowledge or techniques of the greatest military importance, without having had that as his objective at all...

...Abram, VT Martin, a professor of mathematics at the University of Nevada, served two and a half years ,on the Manhattan Project...

...electric pumps in farmyards...

...These questions cancern every last one of us: What kind of Army, Navy and Air Force do we now require, in the light of these new discoveries...

...First we could belatedly state that we demand a vastly more extensive system of inspection than any previously mentioned: one covering biological as well as atomic weapons, and which, in con* sequence, must invade every hospital, every biological laboratory—even every brewery and distillery—in the USSR...

...What are safe and what are unsafe methods of International control of atomic energy to prevent its use at a surprise weapon...

...DESPITE ALL THIS, the adoption of the Baruch plan might still be compatible with American security if atomic bombs were the only major weapons of mass destruction, but they are not...

...A devoted public servant for almost two decades...

...We should announce that today our security would be impaired by an arrangement which abolished atomic weapons, since we believe that no arrangement not bolstered by good faith could be counted on to abolish biological weapons...

...new local and regional libraries...

...If our only "gain" were a diminution of our suspicions— and, there seems very little else we could hope for—then it would be comparable with that of Chamberlain, when he visited Hitler at Berchtesgaden a week before his Munich visit, and "got the impression that here was a man who could be relied upon when he had given his word...

...p—~~ THIS IS NOT ALWAYS the...

...Let us suppose then that the Kremlin has made a volt-face on the problem of the control of atomic energy, and has expressed a desire to negotiate on the basis of the Baruch proposals...

...No English-, interpreter is needed when a Chinese'or a Hindu or a Peruvian sees these products of a working technology', sees a series of working dams,«or a hillside pasture brought back to life by phosphate and lime and an understanding of soils...

...It should be also be pointed out that in preparing for biological warfare one of the major problems is to make certain that the population of the attacker will riot'fall victim to the weapon of attack...

...THE REAL SIGNIFICANCE to many observers of what has taken place in the Valley of Tennessee is this: This American experiment has fortified confidence that men need not be chained to" the wheel of technology...

...In addition, thece was...

...They will indeed affect every human being on the globe...

...What thould be the place of private corporations in thit brand-new technology, an industry that unlike anything the world hat ever teen before wat a giant at birth, and wholly government-owned...

...We should state that, for these reasons, we are withdrawing our offer of the Baruch plan...

...His article...

...How can the people tee to it that narrow pqliiict and pork barrel methods are kept tlrictly out of this huge scientific, industrial and educational enterprise...

...But that choice will not be exercised on a single occasion, surrounded by spectacle and drama...

...We would extricate ourselves from our present undignified position of urging the Soviet Union to accept atomic parity when it is we who have superiority...

...THE ADOPTION of the Baruch plan would wipe out our superiority in atomic weapons...

...The President's "bold new program," the activities in our atomic laboratories, the new advances in medicine, in the production of food by scientific methods, in the design of new scientific weapons of vast destructiveness—these and many other instances can be cited of the predominant position of science and engineering today...

...and that is sufficient to support the argument which follows...

...Lilienthal first headed the revolutionary Tennessee Valley Authority...

...And they do...

...1 The towering place of the machine, of science, and the technical skills that create the machine, are among the dominant facts of the turbulent times in which we live...

...The other possibility is even less attractive...

...WE SHOULD ACT at once to eliminate these dangers...

...It comes time for the United States to make a fateful decision...

...How the machine shall be used will be determined by choices made by the people...

...For it is-not really Fontana Dam or a North Carolina stream "or~a~fafm TfT~Ke1lVucky that he sees, but a river, a valley, a farm in China or India, or Peru...

...How can men use science and the machine to further the well-being of all men and the flowering of the human spirit...

...These steps would serve notice on the Kremlin.that our nerves are as steady as theirs, that our armaments are stronger than theirs, and that we now understand the problem with which we are dealing...

...How can we maintain essential secrecy without drying up the very well-springs of scientific and technical advance, which nourishes not in secrecy but in openness and free discussion...

...It ii only safe when *lt is carried on by methods that are in furtherance of that faith, and methods that insure accountability to the people for the results...

...We might thereby replace the Politburo's certainty that we...

...HThese arguments, which were convincing in 1946...

...However, the reasons which then led to its support are no longer valid...

...It is, in fact, r.s we have seen above, almost certainly not a possibility, for it is most unlikely that the Senate would agree...

...New factories, large and small, barges on the new river channel, and yards building ships...

...The answers, the decisions, will affect directly the future well-being of the 145 million stockholders in this atomic enterprise, that is the people of the United States...

...But many other questions concerning atomic energy are before this country today, and many more will arise in the monthi and years ahead...

...In case of another war it may Well turn out that biological weapons will play a quick and decisive role...

...THE MACHINE CAN BE USED to make men free as they have never been free before...

...are incapable of launching a surprise attack "by a more healthy concern for the possible strategies which we may have in mind...

...They are good only when man uses them for good...

...That was an important decision...

...In the first place, of the great variety of "possible biological weapons, there are many which could be prepared in large quantities, at little cost, and in small laboratories employing very few menu Secondly, • the men and facilities required for such activities would differ ' very little from * those required for many kinds of medical or physiological research...

...THE UNITED STATES, then, is in the awkward position of sponsoring an^ American-devised plan for the international control of atomic energy which would almost certainly be rejected by our Senate...

...More use of technology, more factories, more gadgets, whether in this country or in the undeveloped reaches of Africa and Asia and South America is not enough...

...The farming land is changed— millions of acres—and the forests and woodlands...