https://declassified.library.utoronto.ca/files/original/9cad470ae1e87c0ea44c2cfad1d290bc.pdf 7c6aac9c81b2bab08ab91c919f99e00c PDF Text Text Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la Loi sur I'acces a I'information BEST AVAILABLE COPY c DEPARTMENT OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS £1.3.3.3-^ Subject. Date A.Fi?.i.l....2i|..,.....'19-5-.5*" Washington Mr. Stassen and the 'Little' Atomic War By JAMES RESTON WASHINGTON, April 23—Harold Stassen made bis debut this week as President Eisenhower's disarmament chief by asking the nation's editors for help in combating cynicism and defeatism about the possibility of disarmament. "It is my view," he said, "that cynicism — confirmed, congealed, compounded cynicism — constitutes one of the most serious handicaps. * • • If defeatism became the rule of the day in this problem, that in itself would foredoom failure." It is a good point. For the Communists have said so much about disarmament in the last generation, and have disappointed our hopes so often, that defeatism and cynicism are widespread. Nevertheless, the greatest immediate threat in this country to the objective of disarmament lies not with the American people, who have a dangerous tendency toward wishful thinking in this field, but with the Government which Mr. Stassen represents. The Source of Defeatism AH that needs to happen to put an end to whatever small hope there is in the world today for even a limited disarmament agreement is for this Administration to act on an idea that is gaining ground every day here among influential officials. This is that tactical atomic weapons — small A-bombs and atomic shells and guided missiles — are now "conventional" weapons which should be used on any military target whenever this country gets involved in war. "I imagine," Secretary of State Dulles told his news conference on March 15, "that if the United States Became engaged in a major military activity anywhere in the world that thoBe weapons [tactical atomic weapons] would come into use because, as I say, they are more and more becoming conventional and replacing what used to be called conventional weapons." Mr. Dulles, In this exchange, did seem to be drawing a distinction between "major" wars and "miner" wars, and it should be emphasized that on this ground there is no dispute. Obviously, in defense of the United States or in a "major" war in which the security of United States forces or areas vital to the defense of the United States were involved, any and all weapons would be used. Thi3 is not the issue. President Eisenhower himself, however, has not drawn this distinction. 7i **•— T^/icatibn...r..'.,:;....;,.".z.....'ih.:..,:....i- "In any combat," he told the reporters on March 16, "where these things [tactical atomic weapons] I can be used on strictly military tar- I gets and for strictly military purposes, I see no reason why they should not be used just exactly as you would use a bullet or anything else. • * *" Behind Closed Doors Since then the debate has continued behind alosed doors, particularly within the Joint Chiefs of Staff and specifically in relation to the defense of Quemoy and Matsu. Three of the four members of the Joint Chiefs (Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway dissenting) believe that if the President decides to defend these islands he should order the use of tactical atomic weapons. Moreover, there are not now enough aircraft or conventional weapons in the Far East to deal with the defense of these islands, and so far as one can discover, there is no intention of reassigning men, aircraft and additional conventional weapons in order to be able to deal with the defense of Quemoy and Matsu without the use of atomic bombs. 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. In the light of this, Mr. Stassen's chances of making progress toward a disarmament agreement are not very good. If all wars, even limited wars for the defense of Quemoy and Matsu, are to be atomic wars, what nation is going to do anything except manufacture atomic weapons as fast as it can? A year or two ago, when most people around here agreed that little wars were better than big wars, even if they were temporarily more expensive, there was reason to hope that limited wars could be fought without atomic bombs—as the last war was fought without poison gas —but if almost every military action ia to depend on atomic retaliation, every nation is likely to prepare like mad for the worst. They Have A-Bombs, Too In such a world little wars will almost certainly become big wars overnight, and nations do not talk disarmament in the middle of war. Tho trouble with using tactical A-bombs to knock out an airfield in Red China is that it invites a big A-bomb on Formosa, to be followed no doubt by an H-bomb on Shanghai. After that the new Secretary of Peafe, Mr. Stassen, would no doubt j replace Mr. Stevens as Secretary of the Army, This is what encourages cynicism and defeatism. Few observers here think that a big war is inevitable or that small wars are avoidable, but almost everybody gets slightly hopeless when he sees top officials accepting the idea that atomic weapons will probably have to be used in any war. 000012 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CDNW00082 Title A name given to the resource Newspaper clipping, New York Times, "Mr. Stassesn and the 'Little' Atomic War" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1955-04-24 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Study on Canadian National Security Policy, RG25, file 50333-40, LAC. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Department of External Affairs Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Canadian Crown Subject The topic of the resource Early Cold War, Canadian National Security Description An account of the resource Ottawa Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Canada Declassified Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource en