LETTERS ON THE H-BOMB CONTROVERSY
LETTERS ON THE H-BOMB CONTROVERSY Congratulations — and many thanks — are in order from journalists across the country for your successful defense of the constitutional freedoms we all enjoy....
...We're looking forward to the publication of Howard Morland's story...
...There have always been the Hitlers of this world, who will use such tools to meet the ends of their crazy, power-hungry, and irrational goals...
...Hang in there...
...You remind me of my younger days, when radical yet unripened youth thronged the streets, riding their white chargers and playing hero for a day with little wisdom to back up their causes...
...I call it irresponsible journalism...
...Keep up the good work...
...You fight for freedom but at the same time limit my freedom from fear of a World War HI...
...You have made a contribution of exceeding value...
...The American people owe you a debt for your valiant fight for freedom of the press...
...Yet I could not fathom the rationale behind the pursuit of a cause at the expense of your actions...
...If there is a lesson to be learned from all this (there are many lessons, but this one hasn't been emphasized enough) it is that we owe a great debt to the radical and alternative press — publications like yours and The Press Connection — that have had the courage to say the emperor has no clothes...
...Fred C. Morse Jr...
...The matter has already been settled that this information could be of use mostly to leading countries such as India and Israel who possess the wherewithal to make the device...
...So, man, was I scared today...
...Please file suit against the Justice Department on the basis that your constitutional rights under the First Amendment were violated...
...he made some independent theoretical calculations involving laser energy and its possible use as a trigger for fusion power...
...Ask for $1 in punitive damages (to establish the guilt of the Government and clearly define that prior restraint is unconstitutional) and for compensatory damages in an amount great enough to cover your legal costs and other expenses incurred in defending yourself against an illegal action...
...Our library is dedicated to the infusion and defusion of United States history through scholarly research...
...If you are a member of the Communist Party, there is a law against this party since June 23, 1978...
...You now probably gloat over your achievement...
...It is nice to win one...
...nuclear weapons program...
...Betty Daland Milton, Wisconsin Congratulations and best wishes to The Progressive, staff, and friends...
...Tran Van Dinh Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
...I am a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and a strong advocate of third-consciousness idealism, honesty, and a better world...
...Keep up the good work...
...Probably the Justice Department is relieved to have an "out" to drop its suit against you...
...These countries already possess top scientists who surely know all there is to know...
...Cristi Currie West Bend, Wisconsin Congratulation, celebration, jubilation...
...Around the time that you were in the headlines, a small item was carried by one of the network newscasts about two inventors whose idea for a voice scrambler for CB had just been declared "secret" by Uncle Sam...
...If you don't stop publishing about the H-bomb or any other bomb, you can face arrest...
...As it is, prior restraint has been invoked for six months and upheld by a higher court (in that the appeals court didn't instantly overturn Judge Warren...
...no matter that only seven months later Three Mile Island Unit 2 u js spewing radiation into the central Pennsylvania atmosphere...
...Maybe I'm terribly naive, but I go back to my original question: Why would The Progressive wish, in the first place, to print such data...
...the nuclear industry, backed up by the Government, was attempting to stifle the truth...
...Thanks to you, you've helped that possibility along...
...On a subject such as this, doesn't my "right" to know seem a little ludicrous...
...I am all for freedom of the press, but not for possible world destruction, which your article will expedite...
...John Campbell San Jose, Costa Rica There are many good newsmen in the country and there are also the kind that would do anything to get a story — even to the extent of possibly betraying their own country...
...The Progressive has given a great witness by hanging in there...
...I'd think that those who wrote letters saying The Progressive shouldn't have printed the article ought to reassess their viewpoint, to put it mildly...
...A fight for a cause is good, but again I say at what expense...
...The threat that censorship will again be imposed at a later date remains...
...That includes the hardware, raw materials, processing, and a copy of The Progressive (or a good high-school physics book...
...Ann McLin New Orleans, Louisiana Congratulations...
...Stanley Hamilton Sebring, Florida I am impelled to share with you the excitement I felt when my eye fell on a headline in our Denton Record-Chronicle: "Media Cheer End of H-bomb Litigation...
...Many would like to see such weapons gone entirely...
...Congressman Yatron forwarded Creitz's complaint to the Department of Labor, which subsequently declared us ineligible to receive CETA funds...
...Mary Davis Valencia, California As one who rushed to subscribe to your magazine after hearing of the prior restraint placed against you, let me not only congratulate you on the withdrawal of the censorship suit against you but also subscribe to an additional year's worth of good reading...
...Not scared about sensible, steady fellers in the Kremlin and the White House, such as the late Stalin and Nixon, of course, but about some dirty foreign refugee nuts right here in Marin County who maybe read that Progressive rag and squeeze Oak Ridge maybe into the laundry room of the basement...
...Those who claimed that this case could result in a court decision upholding the Government lacked not only your courage, but also your insight into the heart of the issue: If you are afraid to fight for freedom of the press, then you've already lost it...
...I feel sadder and more depressed now than I ever have...
...We are all the better for your conscience and courage...
...Glenn B. Meagher Fairfax, California Congratulations on your victory and that of decent American people and the free people of the world...
...A Ifons Ertelt Monterey Park, California The staff and administration of the Kevin Davis Private Library wish to extend our congratulations to you and your staff upon the publishing of the controversial H-bomb article...
...Ed Perrone Harrisburg Magazine Harrisburg, Pennsylvania You may think you have the right to print articles about the H-bomb, how to put one together, etc., but you do not have the right to do so...
...My whole life, its actions and observations, testify for me to the significance of Lord Acton's "Power corrupts____" No matter what the further developments, you have succeeded...
...Morale of the masses already hangs low from the cloud of doom that hangs over their heads...
...We believe your article adds to the annals of American judicial history...
...G. Kevin Davis Winfield, Illinois Unbelievable...
...We at Harrisburg understand your problems only too well...
...Now I can sleep better, eat better, and work harder to infuse in my students the great spirit of The Progressive, which is also the moving force of America as you and I know it...
...No matter that Creitz and Yatron bypassed the prescribed procedures for challenging a CETA grant...
...For this reason, we would like a copy of the article for our historical archives...
...Haven't we learned anything from history...
...Logue Denton, Texas I have yet to be convinced of a reasonable explanation as to why an article on the making of an atomic bomb should be published...
...I am sure I am like a majority of Americans who understand nothing in this highly technical data...
...Government has done you a great service by giving your voice an influence beyond your wildest dreams...
...Principles must not be lost sight of if a nation is to survive in dignity...
...Even though the Atomic Energy Act still stands, I don't see how the Government will be able to sustain a prosecution under it in the future...
...Wanda Lamade Twenty-nine Palms, California The U.S...
...Mrs...
...And if I recall correctly, this same fate befell a physics professor a number of years ago...
...This should make the Justice Department think twice about future actions of this type...
...Dick Bauer Somerville, Massachusetts No human being, whether as a Government official or in some other position to exercise control, should ever have more than the most necessary minimum of authority over other human beings...
...Writers and editors like yourselves, who are willing to take chances and do battle in the legal trenches, are the lifeblood of a continuing free press in the United States...
...I couldn't be prouder of The Progressive than I am...
...no matter that the lack of planning for such a contingency — detailed in the article — suddenly became a horrible reality...
...It would be interesting to know how many times the "Born Secret" classification has been used...
...A victory in the courts would have been sweeter, but a victory is a victory...
...Robert Friedman New York, New York Two billion dollars, give or take a few million, might get you a neat family-size H-bomb, if you shop around a bit...
...Was it worth it...
...Taylor Jarnagh Bemidji, Minnesota Congratulations on the U.S...
...Mary Elizabeth Humphrey Williams Grand Rapids, Michigan Of course you should not enjoy such liberty as to publish the article on the secrets in the U.S...
...But then, let's do away with U.S.-type democracy first...
...Following the publication in August 1978 of our article, "Meltdown: Tomorrow's Disaster at TMI" (see The Progressive, June 1979), Walter Creitz, then president of Metropolitan Edison Company, wrote Congressman Gus Yatron expressing his concern that an "article of this ilk...
...This decision is still under appeal...
...I ask you to apologize to Almighty God about this sin and that you become Christian...
...Also, have you set yourself up as a self-appointed censor or "uncensor" in opposition to what our Government leadership recommends...
...Marjorie Murphy Saxtons River, Vermont Congratulations to all of you upon the vindication of your great fight for principles of peace, freedom, justice, and the people's right to know what their Government is doing about nuclear weapons...
...a] highly sensationalized and blatantly distorted scenario involving nuclear safety" could appear in a magazine receiving Federal CETA funding...
...In all likelihood you have given birth to some hotshot backyard bomber and we'll all be destroyed...
...Austin, Texas You call this a First Amendment victory over Federal censors...
...Government's decision to drop its case...
...Your kind disgusts me and also scares the hell out of me...
...You not only have won your own cause but have also helped the weak-kneed to get to their feet and fight on...
...Are you really so well informed that you are positive your additional hydrogen bomb disclosure won't aid a foreign country...
...The least you can do for them is to expand your inquiry into the many skeletons that are still in their closets — to do anything less would be a disservice to humanity...
...With that in mind, one cannot convince me that these countries could possibly glean any new knowledge from a magazine article...
...I only regret that the case did not go to trial (and inevitable appeal to the Supreme Court) where a definitive decision against prior restraint and censorship in general would have helped to ensure that our press remains free...
Vol. 43 • November 1979 • No. 11
