ATOMIC WAR

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27642, 26 April 1955, Page 13

ATOMIC WAR

Weapons Held “Conventional”

(iy.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 pan.) NEW YORK, April 24. James Reston, the chief Washington correspondent for the “New York Times,” said today that the idea that small atomic bombs and atomic shells and guided missiles were now conventional weapons was gaining ground every day among officials in Washington.

In a dispatch from Washington he said that all that was needed to happen to put an end to whatever small hope there was in the world today for even a limited disarmament agreement was for the administration to act on this idea. There were not now enough planes or conventional weapons in the Far East to deal with the defence of the islands of Quemoy and Matsu, and so far as could be discovered, there was no intention of reassigning men, aircraft and additional conventional weapons in order to be able to deal with the defence of Quemoy and Matsu without the use of atomic bombs. The correspondent added: “In short, while the trend now is away from a Presidential order to defend the offshore islands, the actual position is that the government has put itself in a position where it cannot defend the islands effectively without atomic weapons.”