Thoughts on Helsinki

For the past 22 years—ever since we discovered that the Russians had developed the atomic bomb—we have lived in its shadow. Like inhabitants of cities on the flank of a dormant volcano, we have grown so accustomed to muted rumblings that they seldom alarm us. Yet, though our fears may be dormant, the threat most certainly is not. Over the years, science has steadily enlarged it.

Our other important concerns—overpopulation, pollution of the environment, increasing drug abuse etc.—are more clamant because more visible, but the menace of nuclear war is so great that negotiation for arms limitation and control is the most crucial enterprise in which our government is engaged.

LS

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Lewis L. Strauss

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For the past 22 years—ever since we discovered that the Russians had developed the atomic bomb—we have lived in its shadow. Like inhabitants of cities on the flank of a dormant volcano, we have grown so accustomed to muted rumblings that they seldom alarm us. Yet, though our fears may be dormant, the threat most certainly is not. Over the years, science has steadily enlarged it.

Our other important concerns—overpopulation, pollution of the environment, increasing drug abuse etc.—are more clamant because more visible, but the menace of nuclear war is so great that negotiation for arms limitation and control is the most crucial enterprise in which our government is engaged.