~66—
development may matter little.
The consequences of a marked disparity between opponents in the spatial
concentration of populations and industry is left to a separate discussion later
in this chapter.
But one of the aspects of the problem which might be mentioned
here, particularly as it pertains to the United States, is that of having concentrated in a single city not only the main agencies of national government
but also the whole of the executive branch, including the several successors to
the presidency and the topmost military authorities.
While an aggressor could
hardly count upon destroying at one blow all the persons who might assume
leadership in a crisis, he might, unless there were considerably ¢ereater
geographic decentralization of national lcadership than exists at present, do
enough damage with one bomb to create complete confusion in the mobilization of
Sapte
resistance,
(2
<
it goes without saying that the governments and‘poppdations of different
countries will show different levels of apprehension concerning the effects of
the bomb.
It might be argued that a totalitarian state would be less unready
than would a democracy to see the destruction of its cities rather than yield on
a crucial political question.
The real political effect of such a disparity,
however--if it actually exists, which is doubtful—can easily be exagzerated.
For in no case is the fear of the consequences of atomic bomb attack likely to
below.
More important is the likelihood that totalitarian countries can impose
more easily on their populations than can democracies those mass movements of
peoples and industries necessary to disperse urban concentrations.
The most dangerous situation of all would arise from a failure not only of
the political leaders but especially of the military authorities of a nation
like our own to adjust to the atomic bomb in their thinking and planning.
The
possibility of such a situation developing in the United States is very real and
very grave.
We are familiar with the example of the French General Staff, which
at