FOREIGN R:ERATIONS, - 1950-, VOLUME I


tunity to continue to function as a unified and effective society and to
employ othese oher instruments of national policy on which-real
progress must rest. I feel that the absence of international agreement
outlawing the weapons of mass destruction, and the retention in the
national arsenals of this country and of:the Soviet Union of such
weapons, will- have !a tendency to confuse- our people -with regard to
the realities to whict I have just referred and to enconrage- the belief
that somehow or other results decisive for the purposes of democracy
can be expected to flow from the question of who obtains the ultimate
superiority in the atomic -weapons race,-We. cannot- have a clear and
sound national policy unless it is based on a correct appreciation by
our people of the role and possibilities of the various weapons of. war,
and of-warfare itself, as instruments of national policy. I fear-that
-the atomicc weapon, with its vague and highly dangerous promise of
"decisive" results, of people "signing on dotted lines",
of easy solu-
tions -.to profound human.problems,, will impede understandingg of
the things -that are-importan.t to a clean, clear policy and will carry
us toward the-misuse and dissipation of our national strength.
  While -both dangers are great, I would hold this latter danger to
be a more serious one than that which-would reside in an imperfect
system of international prohibition and control, and I would therefore
favor the latter..
   It may be said that all weapons are cruel and destructive, if they
 are. to serve their purpose:; that many of the conventional weapons
 also bring death and hardship to civilian populations; that -the de-
 structivew horror of the atomic weapon is onlya matter of degree; a-nd
 that the -vbove-concept is' therefore_-an ýunsound one which, if
carried
 to its ultimate conclusions, would lead to a Ghandian policy of ui-
 lateral demilitarization, non-resistance and appeasement.,
   As to-the-assertion that this is :only a matter of degree, I think that
 'the following- words%:- of Shakespeare are entirely relevaint -and
 applicable:,
     "Take buftdegree away-untune that string
     And hark what discord follows: .
     Then everyh'ing includeS in power-
     Power into-will, will into appetite,
     And appetite, a universal-wolf,9-
     So doubly seconded with will-and power,
     Must make perforce a universal prey.            .
     And last eat up himself,."§-
   These words would have a.prophetic applicability even if :there
 were no distinction of substance between the weapons which we know

   § From 'Troilus and Cressida". [Footnote in the source text.]


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