Sharing of Atomic Bomb Secrets

Manawatu Times, Volume 70, Issue 269, 14 November 1945, Page 7

Sharing of Atomic Bomb Secrets

Mr. Attlee States British Case in Washington (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) Received* Tuesday, 10.5 p.m. WASHINGTON, Nov. 13. Mr. Attlee has rested the British case for sharing atomic secrets on the contention that the United Nations’ organisation must be taken seriously or not at all, and that atomic bomb control by the Security Council is a necessary prelude to wholehearted cooperation by the Soviet for world peace, says the New York Times’ correspondent. This view, with at least the tacit approval of Mr. Mackenzie King, was submitted during the cruise on the Potomac and at White House. Mr. Attlee is understood to have swept aside Mr. Truman’s hope that the bomb would ‘be outlawed. Though there is an official blackout on the discussions, British sources close to Mr. Attlee want his position to be understood. It is believed he argued against outlawing the bomb on the ground that, when any nation is in extermity and fighting for its existence, all rules go overboard. The British contention is that gas was not used in the last war on military and not moral groimds, and on the premise that no belligerent would use it if the other refrained. The British opinion is that similar military considerations, backed by a strong United Nations’ Organisation in the moral and military sense, could alone prevent future use of the atomic bomb.

His arguments were said to embrace:—

Firstly: The philosophy of the United Nations’ Organisation charter has been altered by the discovery of the new weapon, and it was settled British policy that the United Nations’ Organisation must be strengthened by receiving accepted responsibilities without which it cannot be effective. Secondly: Discoveries of a great military potential do not cease with the atomic bomb; hence the necessity for pooling scientific discoveries and military potential. Thirdly: Before any real headway can be made towards lasting peace, it is necessary to dissipate Soviet fears and suspicions fostered by British, American and Canadian control of the bomb secret, and this dissipation can most effectively be accomplished by turning the secret over to the Security Council or to a joint statement of willingness to do so. Fourthly: It would then be up to Russia to give unmistakeable evidence of its intention to cooperate wholeheartedly with the United Nations’ Organisation, which evidence can be furnished by political action calculated to reduce British and American suspicions of the Soviet and can probably be carried out through the Council of Foreign Ministers. Mr. Attlee spent yesterday at the British Embassy working on his speech to Congress today. British officials report that Mr. Attlee intends to discuss his plan for the pooling of the atomic secrets, but the main part of the speech will be devoted to an outline of what the Labour Party stands for and what it proposes to do. Mr. Attlee will attempt to remove any misconceptions about his Government’s policies relating to Socialism and the Government’s taking over of basic industries such as coal mining and communications.