Heinlein, Robert A – Expanded Universe

world authority?

Take a look around you. Many of your friends and neighbors believe that the

mere possession of the atomic bomb has rendered us immune to attack. So- the country

settles back with a sigh of relief, content to leave foreign affairs to William

Randolph Hearst, the Denver Post, and the Chicago Tribune. We turn our backs on

world responsibility and are now hell-bent

on new washing machines and new cars.

From such an attitude, with dreadful certainty, comes World War III, the

Twenty Minute War, the Atomic War, the War of Final Destruction. The “secret” of the

atomic bomb cannot be kept, the experts have told us repeatedly, for the “secret” is

simply engineering know-how which can be developed by any industrial nation.

From this fact it can be predicted that any industrial nation, even though

small and comparatively weak, will in a few years be able to create the means to

destroy the United States at will in one all-out surprise attack. What constitutes a

strong power in the Atomic Era? Scientific knowledge, engineering skill, and access

to the ores of uranium-no more is needed. Under such circumstances the pretensions

of the Big Five to veto powers over the affairs of this planet are preposterous. At

the moment there is only the Big One, the United States, through its temporary

exclusive possession of the Bomb. Tomorrow-five to ten years- the list might include

any of the many nations with the two requirements.

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Belgium and Canada have the greatest known deposits of uranium. Both are

small but both possess science and skill in abundance. Potentially they are more

powerful than any of the so-called Big Five, more powerful than the United States or

Russia. Will they stand outside indefinitely, hat in hand, while the “Big Five”

determine the fate of the human race? The developments of atomic weapons and of

rocketry are analogous to the development of the revolver in individual affairs-it

has made the little ones and the big ones all the same size. Some fine day some

little nation may decide she is tired of having us around, give us one twenty-minute

treatment with atomic rocket bombs, and accept our capitulation.

We have reason to fear such an attack. We have been through one Pearl

Harbor; we know that it can happen to us. Our present conduct breeds fear and

distrust in the hearts of men all over the globe. No matter how we

think of ourselves, no matter how peaceful and good hearted we think ourselves to

be, two facts insure that we will be hated by many. We have the Bomb-it is like a

loaded revolver pointed at the heads of all men. Oh, we won’t pull the trigger!

Nevertheless, do you suppose they love us for it?

Our other unforgivable sin is being rich while they are poor. Never mind our

rationalizations-they see our wasteful luxury while much of the globe starves.

Hungry men do not reason calmly. We are getting ourselves caught in a situation

which should lead us to expect attack from any quarter, from whoever first produces

atomic weapons and long-distance rockets.

Knowing these things, the professional gentlemen who are charged with the

defense of this country, the generals and the admirals and the members of the

military and naval affairs committees of both houses, are cudgelling their brains in

a frenzied but honest attempt to persuade the rest of the country to follow this

course or that, which, in their several opinions, will safeguard the country in any

coming debacle.

But there is a tragic sameness to their proposals. With few exceptions, they

favor preparedness for the last war. Thusly:

Conscription in peacetime to build up a reserve; Emphasis on aircraft

carriers rather than battleships;

Decentralization of cities; An armaments race to keep our head start in atomic

weapons; Agreements to “outlaw” atomic weapons; Consolidation of the Army and the

Navy; Buying enough war planes each year to insure new development; An active

military and foreign affairs intelligence corps; Moving the aircraft industry

inland; Placing essential war industry underground.

These are the progressive proposals. (Some still favor infantry and

battleships!) In contrast, General Arnold says to expect war in which space ships