After his defeat in 1952, Adlai Stevenson discovered that a good number of the nation's idealists, reformers and vocational do-gooders were still willing to beat a path to his door. Most of the grand designs got a polite brushoff. But one that caught Stevenson's eye was a proposal for the U.S. to halt its hydrogen-bomb tests. Over the months, Stevenson studied the proposition, deemed it worthy. Last April he advocated it publicly during his heated campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. After that he became so preoccupied with the subject that his staffers began griping because he was always closeted with "some scientists"-at the cost of paying attention to more mundane, but equally important, political chores.
During his West Coast campaign trip (TIME, Oct. 22) Stevenson again struck for an end to U.S. H-bomb tests. Some what to his surprise, the proposal received enthusiastic applause. Thus encouraged, Stevenson's professionally intellectual, politically amateurish advisers pushed their advantage, urging him to make the H-bomb his top campaign issue. Arguing against them in a top-level Chicago conference was Campaign Manager Jim Finnegan, a tough-minded political pro. Finnegan finally gave in on the ground that the H-bomb was "a way of talking about peace"-and peace was an issue that Finnegan was distressed to see the Republicans monopolizing. The strategy settled, Caltech Geochemist Harrison Brown (who had argued against the H-bomb before the H-bomb was ever developed) flew into Chicago to give technical advice on a 30-minute Stevenson television speech.
Simple, Safe & Workable. Despite Brown's help, last week's thoughtful speech was distinctly Stevenson's own. He recalled that he proposed last April that the U.S. take the initiative "by announcing our willingness to stop these tests, 'calling upon other nations to follow our lead,' and making it clear that unless they did likewise we would have to resume our experiments too. That was my proposal. It was simple. It was safe. It was workable. And since that time both Russia and Great Britain have declared their willingness to join us in trying to establish that kind of policy . . .
"Therefore, if elected President, I would count it the first order of business to fol low up on the opportunity presented now by the other atomic powers. I would do this by conference or consultation-at whatever level-in whatever place-the circumstances might suggest . . . " If one of the other powers were to break its agreement, Stevenson argued, the U.S. could resume its hydrogen tests in "not more than eight weeks."