LETTERS ON THE H-BOMB CONTROVERSY
LETTERS ON THE H-BOMB CONTROVERSY Your super issue on the H-bomb (November) must be considered a classic. Good work! Morland researched The Weapon. Now we need to research the motivators and the...
...Eric Beier Hanover, Indiana You're probably half-choked on congratulations by now, but how about an award or two for your November issue as Month's Mostest Merriment...
...Our Government has taken the position that publication of this information may "injure the United States" and "secure an advantage to a foreign nation" in the construction of a nuclear bomb...
...Then there are Julius and Ethel Rosenberg...
...It was a shock to read some of the letters you printed...
...Terry Branham, Dolores Hill, Beth Baran, Danny Chun, Neil Braccidafero New Haven, Connecticut...
...All your usually fine work seems eclipsed by this self-spiting and reckless attitude...
...I even served the Nevada Legislature as a "Progressive" through my great admiration for old Fighting Bob LaFollette...
...nuclear establishment...
...Howard Morland's article, now that all can read it, can no longer be simplified and condensed into "How to Build an H-bomb...
...But contrary to the claims made by the Government, this concept has been in the open literature...
...Ely, Nevada Like most Americans, I have always wanted to build a nuclear bomb, but just couldn't find an article explaining the process...
...I subscribed clear back in the 1940s when you were a real progressive magazine...
...One might well ask which city is more likely to have some amateur entrepreneur walking around with a suitcase-sized nuclear bomb—Moscow or Washington, D.C...
...Even though I have not actively worked on nuclear weapons development and therefore do not know the Government's alleged "secrets," I have a pretty good idea of how one could make this thing work...
...There's nothing progressive about giving aid and comfort to those who want access to the bomb for any reason...
...I read nothing about this laser technology in your November issue on the H-bomb, and wonder what portion of the public is aware of these new demons from above...
...I will read Morland's article, and I will be thinking about Julius and Ethel Rosenberg...
...Anyone who would make it an iota easier for terrorists to build a bomb ought to be hung by his balls until he falls loose . . . and then shot...
...Let us stop fooling around with the cosmetics of power and put the finger on the Nitzes, the General Haigs, the Churchills, the Zumwalts, the Bismarcks and the Kissingers, the morally retarded, and especially the godfathers of these hit men...
...Joan May hew Cataumet, Massachusetts All of us who work for justice owe a debt to you simply because you did not give up in your struggle to have the freedom to print what you want...
...Also, I think the give and take between nuclear weapon production and nuclear power production must be clearly understood by the public if we are to have any control over national security and national energy policy...
...I recall feeling compelled a few years ago to drop out of a general chemistry class...
...This is important for small, compact H-bombs, and therefore for advanced weapons...
...I believe that very few people who are deeply involved in causes or movements would disagree with your stand...
...After all, wasn't one Japanese city a sufficient demonstration of power...
...In reading Morland's article, I find some of his ideas correct but others wrong...
...Conceivably, Morland has told his readers how to build a lasting peace...
...Jerry Robinett Tucson, Arizona The publication of articles on the construction and the operation of the H-bomb in The Progressive and the Madison Press Connection has raised serious questions about the freedom of the press...
...I have been working on controlled thermonuclear research for more than twenty years, and many of the concepts on inertial confinement fusion by particle beams can be traced back to my original ideas published more than ten years ago—a fact also acknowledged by the Sandia, Los Alamos, and Livermore Laboratories...
...If, as Sam Day's title/headline suggests ("The Other Nuclear Weapons Club: How the H-bomb Amateurs Did Their Thing"), a clever and persistent amateur can acquire The Secret in 1979, were the executions really justified in the 1950s...
...As you know well, the threat of censorship and its accompanying dangers have merely retreated—temporarily, I fear...
...only badly confused or misguided) will read your splendid November issue and be delivered from their unhappy confinement through blessed laughter...
...As one who works every day on the impact of military spending on our economy and who endlessly confronts the Pentagon's double-talk, I agree totally that the war machine must be understood down to its last nut and bolt...
...You started the furor and other irresponsible newspapers and underground sources have taken up the challenge...
...Why push it to absurd and intolerable limits...
...Like The Progressive, I have had difficulties with the DOE or its predecessor organizations, ERDA and AEC...
...However, what most likely may have upset the Government was the disclosure of the use of soft x-rays for the compression of the thermonuclear explosive...
...Government has evidently assured that none of us knows for sure whether any of several "amateurs" might by now have acquired a nuclear weapon that works...
...I state this to reject any claim by the Department of Energy or others that I obtained my information by leaks from scientists working for the Government...
...Along with some awe-inspiring perceptions (political . . . human) your straight-faced presentation of the totally ludicrous behavior of all the Bad Guys makes for hilarious reading...
...Thanks to your article, though, my living room will get the conversation piece it needs...
...Now it will be possible for them to carry out their labors of love with a greater efficiency than ever before...
...The last incident of that kind occurred about a year ago, when with the help of an informer in the British government they confiscated a paper on fusion research (not the H-bomb) which I had submitted for publication to the Journal of Plasma Physics in England...
...when I told the professor that I did not wish my record to show an education leading to bomb-building, he seemed to understand readily and granted my request...
...Perhaps your article will help unshroud the resource and technical sym-biotics that go on within the nuclear industry...
...I congratulate you on the effort (costly in every sense) made and the victory won—for all of us...
...One final comment: At a recent disarmament conference in New York, I learned for the first time about the new, new generation of weapons: laser-activated fusion bombs mounted on satellites, along with the "killer satellites" that can destroy these (really clean) bombs by battling it out in space...
...Friedwart Winterberg Desert Research Institute Reno, Nevada Thanks for fighting for the freedom of print, thanks for Howard Morland and his postscript, but most of all thanks for always being progressive...
...The Government has done this by failing to impose adequate safeguards to assure that radioactive materials could be accounted for...
...Anyway, I'm glad to stand on your side, and I hope you people always stand on the right side—the side of the worker, the exploited, all those who need love and dignity and justice...
...Why also Nagasaki...
...And the U.S...
...Our younger generations must conquer this question...
...And Hiroshima and Nagasaki...
...You should change the name of your once excellent magazine to Retrogression...
...I am beginning to get the distinct impression that once the Manhattan Project proved successful, the theory was well established, and all that was then required for the "amateurs" to become familiar with the process of H-bomb production was their acquisition of the basic materials...
...We can lay charges, to bring to Nuremberg justice, of conspiracies to commit mass murder, genocide, and ecocide, and a promotion of weapons for the coun-terforce strategy...
...If you knew that dangerous "secrets" were so accessible, why didn't you make sure it was rectified first, and then reveal the incredible stupidity and carelessness (which could wipe us all out) afterward...
...In the context of an autocatalytic thermonuclear detonation wave, I had presented it at an international meeting in March 1978 in Graz, Austria...
...We also extend our gratitude to our brothers and sisters in the news media who dedicated themselves to fleshing out the sketchy "big media" details provided by most of the major news organs...
...Be assured of my admiration for your steadfast witness to the truth and my gratitude for the tremendously vital role that The Progressive has played—and continues to play—in the cause of peace and justice...
...Richard A. Chartier Editor, Fellowship Nyack, New York The Constitution is a delicate agreement...
...How, I thought, could anyone who seriously reads your magazine disagree with your stand...
...The real irony in all of this, it seems to me, is that if a small group of "radicals," in the near-traditional sense, were to get together to build a nuclear satchel-bomb, they would probably show considerably greater respect for the inherent dangers of such radioactive materials as plutonium than evidenced to date by the U.S...
...Thanks for all you've done...
...This would make it ludicrous for the Government to prosecute some of its scientists for having leaked a secret that, in fact, was no secret at all...
...In this context, I cannot help but wonder whether perhaps the Soviet Union, a more nearly totalitarian society than our own, has not imposed "better" controls upon movement of radioactive materials...
...The advantage to be gained here is one of time: Satellite-launched bombs may take only eight minutes to find their targets, compared to the thirty minutes necessary for intercontinental missiles...
...Jean E. Catino San Francisco, California Cancel me out as a subscriber...
...Laura Tavormina Lansing, Michigan I have been facing the cover of the issue with The Secret inside for two days now, unable to read Morland's article...
...I believe that the average person has common sense enough to know that at times our nation's security has a higher priority than an editor's right to publish...
...We cannot indict the arsenals...
...A number of scientists have taken the same position...
...It's my hope (like yours) that all the Bad Guys (who are, after all...
...Robert Klein New York, New York I am truly grateful for your efforts in publishing the H-bomb story...
...Dennis D. Sandage Oxford, Ohio I read with interest Howard Morland's article about "The H-bomb Secret...
...But then I remembered the trouble we have had, at times, with "liberals" who were against us when we were helping the farmworker movement...
...Art Sullivan Rice Lake, Wisconsin I rejoice that the Government has withdrawn its case...
...Now we need to research the motivators and the elite who have us cornered in the last phase of John Foster Dulles's brinkmanship...
...Ken McAllister Vancouver, British Columbia You are quoted in a San Jose Mercurv-News story as saying the Government's decision is a "clear cut victory, not only for The Progressive but also for the American people...
...But your asinine fight for the right to publish an article on how to make the bomb repels me...
...I'm sure peace-loving organizations all over the world, such as the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Irish Republican Army, and the Red Brigade, are also glad that you printed this article...
...As part of the proceedings, my paper was also published in that same year in the journal Atomkernenergie...
...I wish it were that easy...
...David Porter Misso Tule Lake, California Now that it's over, we can take the time from reporting on your case to thank you deeply for the time, money, and energy you devoted to fighting for our freedom...
...E.R...
...You have vividly illustrated Albert Einstein's most important theory—that only through knowledge can the people determine the course of their lives and the lives of their children...
...And we can indict a long list of accessories before the fact, in Canada, in the United States, in Europe, the Soviet Union, China, and India...
...And their sons, the brothers Meero-pol...
...Miller Jr...
Vol. 44 • January 1980 • No. 1
