LETTERS ON THE H-BOMB CONTROVERSY

...Martin Pomona, California Have you read your own issue of February 1979 with Richard Barnet's article on "Ultimate Terrorism...

...what you plan to do is another...

...In reality, the "secret" of the hydrogen bomb is the vast economic resources, together with research and development facilities, required to build such a weapon...

...Is not the Defense Department trying to perpetuate the illusion of security for the sake of its own power...

...It makes absolutely no sense to me...

...Just goes to show what an idiot the Government is...

...Also its size...

...None of this top secret information was released to us until the late 1950s...

...I wish to "vote with my feet" on your recent attempt to publish an article on the H-bomb, since I feel that your publication was seeking license and publicity, not freedom of the press...

...Michael C. Ehlers Boulder, Colorado You know, and I know, that in the process of developing a hydrogen bomb at a cost of X billions of dollars, enough formal reports, proposals, drawings, and the like were produced to fill a warehouse the size of Chicago's Loop...

...Please reconsider, or at least explain...

...the danger is to reveal that secrecy is not sufficient to prevent proliferation...

...Barry Jacobs Hillsborough, North Carolina Based on the general information in the media, I am appalled at the apparent attempt by The Progressive to print an article describing, in some detail, the workings of the hydrogen bomb...

...It would be a far sadder day if there were no Progressive to challenge censorship masked as national security...

...Speaking as both a journalist and a former nuclear weapons officer, I hope the case is settled in favor of the Government...

...I expect a full refund...

...Bill Lindsay Honolulu, Hawaii In regard to the recent publicity given your upcoming article related to the H-bomb, you have my support and sympathy...

...Based on this limited information 1 would not approve even if the Government did not object...

...yours is even worse...

...Was it a publicity stunt...

...In the past, authors hinting at bomb design usually have been acknowledged with only a terse "no comment...

...It would not be a backyard, do-it-yourself project by any means...

...I consider myself fairly enlightened — I am a Progressive reader, and I do believe in freedom of the press...

...I've been amazed (though not surprised) by the reaction which The Progressive has got regarding that hydrogen bomb story, both from the Government and the press...

...Free press" is one thing...

...And I also want to convey my congratulations on your courage in the matter...

...John White Cheshire, Connecticut I am concerned that the attention which The Progressive has suddenly captured may be used to justify more secrecy rather than to examine critically the obstacles to nuclear disarmament...

...What possible positive value such an article could have that would justify its harmful effects is not apparent to me...

...Just follow the instructions...

...If so, I think a damn poor choice...

...But we object to the attitude that whatever is not chained inside a government vault becomes fair game to be revealed to the public — particularly when it involves material that could contribute to the buildup of nuclear arms...

...Now — I have a question...

...Hope you come to your senses...

...How are they making judgments...

...I see your intended action, whether or not the Government prevents it, as the height of irresponsibility and quite probably as a craven effort to gain publicity and subscribers...

...Raise your voice as you have in the past...

...Please spare the world your unexpurgated "scoop...

...Other articles in your magazine have stressed the hazards of nuclear proliferation...

...Were you worried that only a handful of nations had them...

...It took four days to assemble the information...

...If reports of your intentions are true I have again seen it...

...We deplore your apparent willingness to risk having the present members of the Supreme Court rule on the question of prior restraint — particularly in a case where a specific law gives them ample excuse to side with the Government and against the First Amendment...

...Keep up the fight, the information, the light, the perception, the analysis, the conclusions, the reason...

...Why then are you so hell-bent on publishing an article on how to make the H-bomb, even if all the information is in the public domain, as you say...

...Otus K. Albright Naples, Florida This is to let you know of our support for your efforts to publish Howard Morland's "The H-Bomb Secret...

...No court can possibly find in your favor...

...I hope, and expect, that The Progressive will provide its readers with detailed reasons for such publication so that people such as myself will be able to intelligently discuss the situation...

...Can the Department of Defense be trusted with an instrument of universal genocide...

...We agree with your assessment that any information that the article may divulge on the actual manufacture of the H-Bomb would be of no use to those nations without the technology and other resources to accomplish that feat...

...Solomon Attinson Newark, New Jersey Any sufficiently wealthy and determined government, utilizing physicists and engineers conversant with nuclear physics and materials and explosives engineering, could ultimately produce its own H-bombs, given enough time, money, and the proper industrial and nuclear technology base...

...John R. Lawrence Uniontown, Pennsylvania As a contributor I want to express my pride in being associated with a journal being subjected to the censorship process now under way...

...If further information comes out that indicates there is some reason for such an article being published in your magazine, I will be happy to revise my opinion, but 1 am seriously considering whether to request cancellation of my subscription and refund of my money...

...This would be a precedent for curbing legitimate free expression...

...The task now is to show how secrecy has impeded disarmament by reducing accountability to the public...

...Therein, George W. Harper has a beautifully funny (and wholly accurate) non-fiction piece entitled "Build Your Own A-Bomb and Wake Up the Neighborhood...

...This supposedly top secret information was all available at the Milwaukee Public Library...

...How do you justify such behavior...

...It would seem particularly ironic that the Justice Department has taken this action against you in the same week that the April issue of Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact appeared on the newsstands...

...George R. Papas Brockton, Massachusetts You are right to expose the dangers of the nuclear weapon...

...Yet, the Government is asking us to believe that a free-lance writer, as a result of six months of studying unclassified documents, can write a feature story of a few thousand words that so precisely abstracts all these reams of paper that an enemy could manufacture one of the devices...

...I'm sure that whole reams of classified documents exist on the subject that I wrote about, but my story was based on publicly available information...

...If I had a subscription I would cancel it...

...Norman B. Gesner Indianapolis, Indiana I am most disturbed and disappointed that you want to publish an article on how to make the hydrogen bomb...

...Are you in a hurry to see someone drop The Big One...

...Moreover, we are dismayed that you seem willing to violate the principles for which The Progressive stands...

...Sooner or later, the issue of the people's right to know versus "their need to know," as defined by the militarists, must be decided...

...Paul J. Quirk Columbus, Ohio Best of luck in your battle...

...The case can only make bad law...

...Florence Levinsohn Manager Editor In These Times Chicago, Illinois I wish you to know that I emphatically do not support your attempt to publish information on the construction of a hydrogen bomb...

...I feel that The Progressive is 100 per cent correct in defense of its right to publish the article...

...David Herron State Secretary Milwaukee, Wisconsin The crucial question is the future success and role of the magazine in the movement for peace and democracy — a role I believe absolutely indispensable...

...I often get angry when I hear pious talk of protecting freedom of the press, which you are accused of jeopardizing, from people who don't get hassled by the powers-that-be because they are so adept at censoring themselves...

...Now it seems that you want to spread the knowledge of how to make H-bombs...

...Edward Greer Brookline, Massachusetts Should The Progressive magazine publish an article detailing how to construct an H-bomb...

...What in God's name ever got into you even to consider this article...

...The only real "secret" about the H-bomb (like the "secret" of the A-bomb) is whether or not such a device could be constructed and successfully exploded...

...Willett Markesan, Wisconsin If possible, please send us a copy of your "How a Hydrogen Bomb Works" article so that we can publish it in our school newspaper...

...I am thoroughly behind your principles in the H-bomb matter, and I wish to donate $15 to your campaign for the right to print the story...

...Alice Butler Carversville, Pennsylvania You idiots...

...Did you want all future wars to be waged on equal footing...

...Why do you want to publish an article on how to make a hydrogen bomb...

...But I am not with you in this business about printing an article which would enable any neighborhood fanatic to turn out a bomb...

...I also resent Government censorship, but this would seem to be a case where even you would be reluctant to print dangerous information...

...Although I have for fifty years prided myself on being open to all sides of questions, I think I can recognize sheer insanity when I see it...

...Amy M. Branks Janesville, Wisconsin As a constitutional lawyer and former legislative counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union I urge you to desist in pursuing plans to publish an article which will disseminate plans for the construction of a nuclear bomb...

...It seems to me that The Progressive is being irresponsible — dangerously so...

...If your correspondent can get this information, don't you suppose that others can and have also...

...Margaret Y. Hirozawa Birmingham, Michigan I am against publication of the article on the hydrogen bomb...

...Freedom without responsibility is license, not liberty...

...William N. McNairn Palos Verdes Estates, California I trust that I am one of many writers who share a sense of outrage at any form of governmental prior restraint...

...To date, five nations have demonstrated that it is indeed possible, and two others currently are in a position to do so within the next few years...

...A few years back 1 purchased "The Illustrated Science and Invention Encyclopedia" which was copyrighted in 1974...

...A.J...

...Robert R. Jurewicz Milwaukee, Wisconsin I've been following your situation closely — it's had coverage in every possible medium, and millions of people now know there's a Progressive who would otherwise not have heard of it...

...It was shorter and fatter than my theory, but it did fit through the bomb-bay doors...

...I did hear interviews with scientists and someone from the magazine...

...In volume one you can build either an "A" bomb or an "H" bomb...

...Chuck Hanson Mountain View, California The Socialist Party of Wisconsin expresses grave concern over the attempt (so far successful) by Federal authorities to impose prior restraint on The Progressive magazine under the Atomic Energy Act...

...This would be harmful to a free press even if subsequent appeals restored the narrow limit...

...However, I must compliment you on your excellent magazine...

...Elisabeth Jezierski Durham, North Carolina In 1946, while a junior in high school, I wrote a paper on how the first atomic bomb was built, how it worked, and how it was detonated...

...Still, I must ask you: How will peace be furthered through that article...

...No matter how austere this household gets, under economic pressures, we know what publication we'll not cancel out...

...It is interesting to note that the outcries come from those who fear their preserves are endangered: the journalists and their "self-imposed" censorship, the weapons-makers and their industry, the academics and their "research," the Government officials and their jobs...

...Shep Robinson Barrington, Illinois From the newspaper and broadcast accounts I can see no justification for the "how to" aspects of the H-bomb article...

...if they'd kept their noses out of this, our beautiful Progressive could have missed a million dollars worth of publicity...

...1 can think of about one hundred subjects worthy of your time and attention, now demanding solution, which far surpass publication of information on production of the bomb...

...Bob Griss Madison, Wisconsin 1 am embarrassed to be listed as a subscriber to such an irresponsible publication...

...We oppose prior restraint by the Government, no matter what the reason...

...I can't think of anything you can say concerning "freedom of the press" or such that would justify the horrible reality of the spread of development and use of the hydrogen bomb...

...Elwin Volk Pasadena, California...

...Jean Gordon Milwaukee, Wisconsin Where are those hollering for censorship getting their information on the contents of your article...

...David P. Ziglin New York, New York Please cancel my subscription to your magazine...

...John A. Kordak North Branford, Connecticut If you'll send me the instructions for your concoction I'll send mine for matzoh balls...

...Nelda Willmore Manhattan, Kansas You have my complete support in your stand for freedom of the press, and if financial aid should become necessary in the future, I will help you to the best of my presently limited resources...

...Unless you can give me some sound reason why it would be in the public interest to broadcast to the world information on how a hydrogen bomb can be constructed, I request that you cancel my subscription to The Progressive...

...And because of the intensity of my conviction in this regard, I would urge the H-bomb piece not be printed, out of deference to many people's fears, however groundless they might be (alarm is healthy but terror is demobilizing), so as not to endanger the magazine's base of support...

...Why are you publishing an article on how to make bombs...

...I saw my first picture of "Little Boy," the first A-bomb, in 1956...

...Lee R. Beckett Evansville, Indiana I am normally very sympathetic to your magazine and its positions, but I'm puzzled and unhappy about your position in fighting the Government with regard to the H-bomb article...

...The court's temporary restraining order is based on the myth that there is a "secret" — in this case the "secret" of the hydrogen bomb — which it would be perilous to disclose to potential enemy nations...

...What is most puzzling about all this is the Government's reaction to the article...

...Louis St...

...it had to be smaller than the bomb-bay doors...

...Even a narrowly drawn decision would be broadened by some lower courts...

...Or should the article by suppressed by the government...

...I hope you lose your subscribers and your total newsstand sales...

...The blindness of Government and industries in refusing to admit the dangers of nuclear power wastes is appalling...

...I also hope I'm not the only science fact/science fiction writer who questions the argument that anything written on "How an H-Bomb Works" would be of practical value to a terrorist, two-bit dictator, or mad Hollywood scientist...

...You'll have done the world a favor if we have to face these questions, publish or not...

...Dean R. Lambe Vincent, Ohio In the interests of both press freedom and world peace, we urge you not to publish the article tentatively titled "How a Hydrogen Bomb Works...

...I am also seriously concerned with the prospect of getting a Supreme Court decision for prior restraint...

...And I have clearly told terrorists how to lay hands on two fully-functional nuclear weapons in my "The Hole Thing" (January Omni...

...Furthermore, we agree that it is crucial to the well-being of the American populace that we be informed about the dangers accompanying the manufacture of the bomb...

...That anyone should suggest that your fine, moral, humane publication would encourage nuclear proliferation is ludicrous and absurd...

...But the serious question is, will the people react...

...I hope the Government wins its case, as the First Amendment was surely never meant to cover irresponsibility of this kind...

...The size of the bomb was easy...

...Arthur L. Garfield Cheyenne, Wyoming I am a high school senior who has been following the press's accounts of your present confrontation...

...Harry Boyte Minneapolis, Minnesota Your intention to publish an article on "How a Hydrogen Bomb Works" is exactly what one scientist (Kendall) has called it: an act of "appalling irresponsibility...

...If you have any concern for the principles of law you purport to defend you will end this senseless and irresponsible litigation...

...Mark and Phyllis Clark Morton Grove, Illinois Would you publish a recipe on how to poison the food of virtually all your enemies (and thereby of most of your friends as well...

...It will be a sad day for this country if The Progressive loses...

...1 hope The Progressive rises to the occasion and struggles to set the parameters of the debate which your expose demands...

...Russell Barnes Waterville, Maine It is probably more important that the public know that the DOE wilfully violates the First Amendment than that the article be published...

...William F. Ware Washington, D.C...