THE WEEK

• Youth was everywhere at the Republican convention. Youth managed the various candidates’ booths, Youth waved the posters, Youth held the convention parade, and it was Youth, primarily, that staged the Presidential demonstration Wednesday night. . . . Lots of the young people had no ideological interest; they had come for the excitement, the activity; they were Republicans . . . well, because their family was Republican, or perhaps because they sincerely did believe in Peace and Prosperity. But those who were serious, the ones who will be working hardest to guide the Republican Party in the future, were conservatives: and most of them Goldwater fans. They passed out 15,000 Goldwater buttons, handed out literature, rallied inside and outside the amphitheater. They greeted Richard Nixon at the airport with Goldwater signs, and did the same thing for President Eisenhower the next day. They drove one Nixon aide into muttering in exasperation: “Those damn Goldwater people are everywhere.” What’s more, they are going to be around for a long time to come, which is something the Republican leadership should take note of.

• The Atomic Energy Commission becomes more— and more openly—worried over the Administration’s ban on atomic testing. The analysis of fallout from Soviet tests shows that the U.S. held a four-year advantage on nuclear weapons development when the test ban went into effect in November 1958. The AEC reasons that the Soviets have continued their development program, in one manner or another. There is also the probability that Russia is developing an anti-missile missile, which could be circumvented only by more sophisticated U.S. missiles with a “cluster” of warheads able to blanket the target like a spray of buckshot. Without testing, these “cluster” warheads cannot be perfected. Meanwhile both candidates maintain an absolute security blackout on the whole nuclear test problem.

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Presidential Election

• Youth was everywhere at the Republican convention. Youth managed the various candidates’ booths, Youth waved the posters, Youth held the convention parade, and it was Youth, primarily, that staged the Presidential demonstration Wednesday night. . . . Lots of the young people had no ideological interest; they had come for the excitement, the activity; they were Republicans . . . well, because their family was Republican, or perhaps because they sincerely did believe in Peace and Prosperity. But those who were serious, the ones who will be working hardest to guide the Republican Party in the future, were conservatives: and most of them Goldwater fans. They passed out 15,000 Goldwater buttons, handed out literature, rallied inside and outside the amphitheater. They greeted Richard Nixon at the airport with Goldwater signs, and did the same thing for President Eisenhower the next day. They drove one Nixon aide into muttering in exasperation: “Those damn Goldwater people are everywhere.” What’s more, they are going to be around for a long time to come, which is something the Republican leadership should take note of.

• The Atomic Energy Commission becomes more— and more openly—worried over the Administration’s ban on atomic testing. The analysis of fallout from Soviet tests shows that the U.S. held a four-year advantage on nuclear weapons development when the test ban went into effect in November 1958. The AEC reasons that the Soviets have continued their development program, in one manner or another. There is also the probability that Russia is developing an anti-missile missile, which could be circumvented only by more sophisticated U.S. missiles with a “cluster” of warheads able to blanket the target like a spray of buckshot. Without testing, these “cluster” warheads cannot be perfected. Meanwhile both candidates maintain an absolute security blackout on the whole nuclear test problem.