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Senator
Moynihan's Memo Mr. President, The great Nobel physicist, Hans A. Bethe, is the subject of the lead article in the "Science Times" section of the New York Times. One cannot help but marvel at the life Dr.Bethe, a national treasure, has led. In 1935, he fled Nazi Germany, settling at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Within three years, he developed an equation to explain solar fusion which won him a Nobel prize in 1967. Hans Bethe led the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos; he was, one could say, present at the creation. He stood next to J. Robert Oppenheimer on July 16, 1945 in the New Mexico desert, a witness to the testing of the first atomic bomb. The scientists at the site knew that if the test worked it would end World War II, as it did within a month, and forever change the nature of warfare. At the moment of that explosion, a new era began. It changed us. Changed the world, and changed all those present. Maurice M. Shapiro, now chief scientist emeritus of the Laboratory for Cosmic Physics at the Naval Research Station, in Washington, recalled the scene in the New Mexico desert in an interview two years ago: At precisely 5:30 there was a blinding flash--brighter than many suns--and then a flaming fireball. Within seconds a churning multicolored column of gas and dust was rising. Then, within it, a narrower column of debris swirled upward, spreading out into an awesome mushroom-shaped apparition high in the atmosphere--Maurice M. Shapiro, "Echoes of the Big Bang," New York Times, July 15, 1995.Next came "an oppressive sense of foreboding." Oppenheimer described the event as follows: We waited until the blast had passed, walked out of the shelter and then it was extremely solemn. We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita: Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him he takes on his multi-armed form and says, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds," I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.Hans Bethe's role in shaping United States nuclear policy had only just begun. For the past fifty years, he has involved himself in thoughtful and constructive efforts to develop responsible policies to deal with this technology he played such a crucial role in creating. The article in today's New York Times, for instance, characterizes him as a "prime mover behind the first East-West arms accord, the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty, which ended nuclear explosions in the atmosphere." And just a few months ago--on April 25--he wrote the President an historic letter which states: It seems that the time has come for our Nation to declare that it is not working, in any way, to develop further weapons of mass destruction of any kind. Mr. President, Dr.Bethe is one of our living treasures. It is entirely fitting that his many contributions to society are publicized and studied, and that his policy pronouncements are accorded the attention they so deserve, for as the author of the Times article, William J. Broad, states, Bethe's voice may be gentle, but his words are sharp. I hope that Dr.Bethe will soon complete work on his autobiography and share with us the breadth of his life experiences. I ask that the article in the New York Times, the letter from Dr. Bethe to the President, and the President's response be printed in the Record. Sincerely,
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