The Washington Post

SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 1962

Letters to the Editor

Unjustified Action

The series of atmospheric
tests of nuclear weapons an-
nounced by President Kennedy
as scheduled to be carried out
later this month will, if carried
out, constitute an unjustified
unilateral action by the United
States in the direction of in-
creased militarism and away
from the goal of general and
complete disarmament with in-
ternational controls and _in-
spection, described in Presi-
dent Kennedy’s United Nations
address last September.

I have never advocated uni-
lateral disarmament by the
United States, or, for that mat-
ter, by the Soviet Union. I fear
that the militarists in the other
country would take advantage
of the opportunity provided by
such an action. But the United
States does in fact take unilat-
eral actions—unilateral actions
in the direction of increased
militarism — and the Soviet
Union follows our lead.

We made and exploded the
first atomic bombs and built
up the first atomic stockpile.
Three years later the Soviet
Union followed our example.

We made and exploded the
first hydrogen bomb; the So-
viet Union was one year be-
hind.

We carried out the first
great series of atmospheric
tests, polluting the atmosphere
with radioactive materials. We
built up the first 10,000-mega-
ton stockpile of nuclear weap-
ons, the first nuclear stockpile
great enough to achieve the
annihilation of an enemy coun-
try. The Soviet Union followed.

The score on nuclear weap-
ons tests now stands at 180 for
the United States, 105 for the
Soviet Union. We still have a
lead in nuclear knowledge and
a lead in nuclear weapons
technology—not the huge lead
that we once held, but a lead.

Are we now going to carry
out another unilateral act of
increased militarism, of in-
creased intensification of the
cold war? Is there no hope that

President Kennedy will order
the postponement of the an-
nounced series of atmospheric
tests of nuclear weapons,
which if carried out during the
Geneva Seventeen-nation Con-
ference on Disarmament
would surely decrease the
chances of success of this Con-
ference?

Is our great Nation, the
United States of America, al-
ways going to take the lead in
militarism, and never in the
fight for peace and disarma-
ment through international
agreements with international
controls and inspection? Are
we for or against the great im-
morality of war, which now
could destroy a major part of
the world?

LINUS PAULING,
California Institute of Technology.
Pasadena, Calif.