The Choice

Without public debate, indeed with almost no public awareness of the problem, a big and awesome decision, once postponed, was soon to be made.

U.S. scientists believed that they could manufacture a hydrogen bomb, an atomic bomb summoning up the same sort of fierce energy that gives the sun its heat. All that was needed was a way of forcing performance of a well-known scientific fact: if hydrogen atoms are converted into helium atoms, massive amounts of energy are released. The H-bomb could be at least 1,000 times as powerful as the atomic bombs dropped on Japan, might well use the present A-bombs as mere matches to start the hydrogen on its way. It would, said the theorists, be capable of devastating perhaps 100 square miles with one blast.

The principle had been studied for years before the scientists bumped into the method of uranium fission. After the war the President had vetoed allout effort on an H-bomb because it was not worth the regimentation of the economy and enormous expense. But the Russian atomic explosion had drastically clipped the atomic lead upon which a great deal of U.S. security and strategy was based. A group of top scientists went to work on a new analysis. Their report: granted a huge concentration of effort, a guarantee of ironclad priorities and some two to four billion dollars, they could, in from two to four years, build the necessary tools for making the H-bomb with a fair chance of success.

The proponents argued that an H-bomb would cover an area ten times the size of today's atomic bombs, and would demand far less pinpoint accuracy. If the U.S. didn't build it, they said, the Russians probably would. The opponents said there were better ways of spending the money: for example, perfection of methods of delivering the bombs the U.S. already has. They also pointed to promising progress on counter-weapons, arguing that such a staggeringly expensive explosive might never have a chance for delivery.

Last week the problem lay on the desk of the President of the U.S. for decision. "The choice," said the Washington Post, "may be the most cosmic that has confronted any chief of state in war or peace in American history."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.