Letters, Apr. 22, 1946

Suppose Russia Had It?

Sirs:

Re: Pepper, Ball and Crossroads [TIME, April 1].

Let us consider our feelings if matters were reversed—Russia holding the secret, producing a daily increasing number of atomic bombs . . . announcing officially that this "Damoclean sword" would be kept especially from the U.S., etc. All this would throw our country into a state of alarm which would make the effect of the Pearl Harbor attack seem like a W.C.T.U. picnic. . . . There would be no reconversion— only armament. We would insist that Russia either share the secret...