The War In Cicero

While his wife was busy in the kitchen, young (29) Rev. W. W. Powell, whose Bethel Lutheran Church has the biggest congregation in thriving little Cicero, Ind., sat in a rocking chair in his living room considering a newsman's question.

"As a minister," he said, "I'm not in favor of the atom bomb. But I think that 50% of this community believes that our military should drop an atom bomb on Russia and get it over with."

Cicero (pop. 1,058) is off the main highways, set in the midst of some of the richest farmlands in Indiana. Its farmers and merchants have a lot of money in the Hamilton County bank. They do not jump at conclusions.

Maybe, said Pastor Powell, their willingness to let the bomb be dropped is "a little selfishness, because they have their own community at heart; maybe it is self-preservation." Said High-School Teacher Bernard Scott: "What's the use of having these atom bombs if they're not to be used? It's just like having a new car in the garage and letting it be idle. What we ought to do is to notify the Russians that if they don't get back north of the 38th parallel by a certain date, we'll drop the bomb on them."

Wrote TIME'S Indiana Correspondent Edwin C. Heinke last week: "I firmly believe now that small-town people, who ordinarily would be thought of as isolationists, are far ahead of the Government in their belligerent attitude. People out here are tired of the constant talk of the big war to come. They want action. Their sentiment is, 'Let's get this one ended before it starts.'"

Among the more cautious half of Cicero's townspeople, who were not demanding the use of the bomb--or at least not yet--were Postmaster A. T. McKnight and Banker Newton Wiles. They were willing, they said, to leave the A-bomb "up to the

strategists."

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Several of the "strategists" spoke up about the bomb last week. On their minds were such practical matters as Korea as a target, the U.S. supply of bombs, the possible need for them in the future, i.e., in war with the U.S.S.R. They warned against using the bomb now.

"I see no target in Korea," said Atomic Energy Commissioner Sumner Pike, "on which to use such a valuable and costly instrument of warfare."

Said Vannevar Bush, wartime head of

U.S. scientific research: "The Russians would love to have us use up our stock of atom bombs [in Korea]."

Said Dwight D. Eisenhower, who thought the bomb might be considered for materiel targets in Korea airfields and warehouses--but not against human beings: "We're trying to stand before the world as decent, just, fair people, not as judges to exterminate those who oppose us."

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