Military Importance of the Atomic Bomb

In our discussion of Prof. Blackett's book FEAR, WAR AND THE BOMB (BULLETIN, February, 1949) we promised to return in more detail to the military side of his argument. This has proved difficult because of unwillingness of those really familiar with military planning for an “atomic war” to comment publicly on this subject. Recently, the arguments of Dr. Blackett (who sees in the atomic bomb only another powerful high explosive bomb, and assigns to it primarily tactical function in support of ground forces, while minimizing the importance of both “conventional” and atomic strategic bombing) have been taken up, practically word for word by Navy spokesmen before the House Armed Services Committee. The announcement that the Soviet Union has developed an atomic bomb and the Navy vs. Air Force debate have stressed the vital importance of an enlightenment of American public opinion on the strategic value of the atomic bomb. As a contribution to this discussion, we reprint below, from the magazine SOCIAL RESEARCH (September, 1949), a substantial part of a critical review of Blackett's book by Mr. Kaysen, of Harvard University, one of the social scientists who has long been concerned with the problems of atomic energy.