\
3. \
been wiped out?
Even military men were beginning to think that perhaps it would
be a good idea to look very carefully into the possibilities of restricting
atomic warfare by international action.
‘
In any case it was not the task of either the physical scientist or the
military strategist to find means of subjecting the new force to effective conThat was clearly a political problem, to be undertaken by the experts in
political relationships.
oo
Jos
yo?
trol,
‘
After a few early flights of fancy, nost Wf,thepolitical analysts lapsed
into a discreet silence on the subject.
It was quickly apparent that they had
been handed one of the toughest problems which the members of their guild nad
ever had to face.
The profound significance of atomic energy as a physical
force called for political thinking on a commensurate scale,
Initial probings
with the ordinary tools of political analysis brought disappointingly small results.
Each sortie into some promising opening either ended up against a solid
wall or led into another tangle of seemingly insoluble problems.
No clue could
be found to a simple formula which would offer repose to men's minds while
opening up new vistas of unruffled prosperity.
In fact there was reason to
believe that nothing of the sort ever would be found and that the job was one of
arduous and patient examination of a whole mosaic of related problems extending
indefinitely into the future.
One was met right at the beginning with two dilemmas of really imposing
dimensions.
The first of these arises out of the nature of the procedures
available for the common regulation of the actions of free nations.
On the one
hand, any scheme for international control of atomic warfare must be put into
effect by voluntary agreement.
There is no supreme power to impose it from above.
On the other hand, it seemed extremely improbable that, states possessing bombs
or the capacity to make them would voluntarily restrict their power to carry on
atomic warfare merely on the promises of other states to do likewise,
Because of
—
the nature of the bomb, any state which broke its word and surreptitiously