Letter from James Gallagher to President Harry S. Truman

692-8 525 S. Sparks St. State College, Pa. Jan. 22, 1950 7 Pro Mr. Harry S. Truman, President y The Blair House Washington, D.C. Dear Mr. President, I am a graduate student in psychology at Pennsylvania State College. Neither my wife nor I have ever written to a public official before (in this we may not have been good citizens) but there now is such a grave issue before you that I feel a responsibility for letting you know how some people feel in regard to it. The issue to which I am referring is the discovery or rather the invention of the Hydrogen Bomb Some people have claimed that the choice you have is between making the bomb or forbidding its production. This, to me, seems quite unrealistic. The choice lies not in forgetting about the bomb but rather what we are going to do with it. For some years now the United States has been leading the move toward a more moral and responsible relationship among nations on an international level. While our actions have not always coincided with our ideals it seems fair to say that we are still a leader in this respect. We have had two golden opportuni- ties to prove the sincerity of our belief in moral behavior. First we had the opportunity of turning down the use of the Atomic Bomb on the basis of its pro- hibitive destructive force. Our refusal could be excused on the basis that we were in a war and had to work our way out the best we could. Even so it seems the world has become a little wary of us. Now we are faced with our second and quite possible our last chance to prove in actions what we say, with such abandon, in words. The exclusive manu- TRUNAN facture of the H-Bomb by us now, in peace, while the strongest nation in the MASTONAL SENIVES AND LIBRARY world, would forever blast whatever moral pretensions we would like to erect. SERVICE What nation could feel secure in their relationship with us remembering that five years ago Russia was our ally and Japan and Italy our deadly enemies. Worst of all, it would show quite clearly our fundamental disbelief in world coopera- tion as a solution to international problems. On the other hand, the offer of the H-Bomb by us to the United Nations would reaffirm and strengthen our rela- tionship with other nations and our leadership in World Government. This might not strengthen our military defense but it would certainly make such defense less necessary. Admittedly there are barriers to overcome. Russia will continue to be a problem but if she will not cooperate she can always leave the U.N. She has walked out before and returned. The most important thing for us to remember now is that there are more countries in the world than Russia and United States and that