NEW U. S. ATOMIC-WEAPONS POLICY QUESTIONED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000200250004-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 12, 1999
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: January 29, 1954
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For ReIdQ 'R T09/07C Ig1TP75-00001 R000200250004-5
Sufficient Protection?
New U.S. Atomic-Weapons Policy Questioned
Staff Writer of
Vie Christian Science Monitor
Cambridge, Mass.
policy of the United States bring
about sufficient protection iron
Communist aggression round the
world?
An inquiry into this gaesticn
was -presented by Saville R,
Davis, American news e litor of
The Christian Science Mori tor.
before a meeting of the League
of Women Voters of Massachu-
setts yesterday.
Mr.. Davis said it was ques-
tionable whether Washington's
recent decision to rely on atomic
weapons would be Xecrve in
meeting localized wars incited
by the Kremlin, such as in Ko-
rea and Indochina.
Mr. Davis' subject was "Mili-
tary Factors and Their Effect on
Policy." He shared the platform
with Prof. William L. Langer,
director of the Russian Research
Center at Harvard, who :poke
on the "East-West Conflict in
Retrospect and Prospect."
They appeared before the
televised concluding session cf
the 32d School of International
Relations conducted by the
league. The two-day conference
was held at Sanders Theater ir,
cooperation with Radcliffe Col-
direCigr of e entra n e i- o un errs e e ovie s ca - ime an pace o our own o ram o ive mo ive arc trec-
genceA ency,0. sal- 1Tfet " bilities." retaliate." tion to the revolutionary
fide #rpce and He said the free world may Mr. Davis said Washington's changes in policy and military
have to prepare itself for living decision that the Kremlin does strategy.
al]y'an~ u??l2 with a constant condition of in- not intend war in the predict- ! "I cannot believe that this ga tt. er external"e~P ternational crises, and must be able future provides "a poised, in our foreign policy will b
. , % :>illin
+? s
end +imn money and nnnanir hasis" of m;li+ar
allowed to last But while i
s
g
p
y
effort for its own defense. thinking as long as there is as- does, we are mistaking the rea
fisted was: (1) the continuing
power struggle within the Krem- Ultimately, Professor Langer' surance that the Soviet will not nature of power. . . Physica
lin walls; (2) dissatisfaction added, one of the two conflicting make headway by local expan- force is not enough. It is an in
among Soviet consumers over the systems will have to vanish. sion in the meantime. strument, not a policy.
low standard of living; (3) grow-"One of them will prevail," he He also indicated that the "The military problem at bas
ing friction between the U.S.S.R. said. "I am sure it will be the changme in Washington's policy is a problem of selfmastery an
one that justifies itself most to may have been motivated at first the most important battlegroun
and its. satellites, evidenced in
humanity at large." by economic considerations is not strategic but in one's ow r
riots and unrest; and (4) the -
Mr. Davis raised the question rather than those of military thinking-in setting directions
military strength of the United ,
whether atomic retaliation is the strategy. in using force for a precise)
Sts uestioned whether Mos- answer to localizedy Communist 'Words Not Enough' - controlled -purpose, and not let
He questioned particularly in view of ting it get out of hand.
cow could for a long time main- However, Mr. Davis said, the
g official Washington's estimates "We could for example, crest
tain the hermetic isolation of the that 13 million Americans could evolution of new military policy something much larger and a
Iron Curtain. While the free be killed in a first exchange of and alliances are not enough. He the same time less costly pro
world regards communism as a atomic weapons. continued: gram than the Marshall Plan i
menace, he said, "the Commu- "Would we accept a challenge "Today the Marshall Plan has the field of aid to underde
them." '.killed and several score cities !languish. We have r othing in peoples of the East, working no
Conflicting System ' leveled in order to do what 10, their place. by ourselves but as part of th
divisions could do? And if we, "We use propaganda, but world community under th
But, he warned, there is no United Nations-helping the )
didn't, would our bluff have words are not enough, especially
reason for too much optimism been called?" He added: as we only imperfectly live up people onto their feet and int
and that "even those things "I wonder whether Washing- ! to them in our jives, and the their place in the sun.
which appear favorable on the ton has thought through the Communists are always trying "Lf this seem bold, then bol
surface may be purposeful pro- dangers of relying on atomic to exploit that fact. So far as ae- programs are the minimum fo .
force. This means that every tions are concerned, we are left survival in times like these. An
"
crastinations by the Russians.
He added:
han before. It is a great danger country, and then wait for a' and economic and social pro- ; light to the world.
threat of localized war will be with little but naked military all the physical force the ato
generalized into the threat of alliances and force to govern can release is not enough t
all-out atomic wear." our relations with the outside substitute for an idea like thi ,
soon.... We may be getting our- "Now we will let the Com- world. a program to fulfill the demo
selves into a worse condition ! munists strike and capture a We have not evolved a moral cratic process and hold up
FOIAb3b
Approved For Release 1999/09/07 : CIA-RDP75-00001 R000200250004-5