A resolution designed to prevent nations like Israel from perfecting nuclear weapons was introduced in the Senate today by Sen. John O. Pastore, Rhode Island Democrat, and cosponsored by 51 other Senators. As past chairman and long-time member of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Sen. Pastore stressed that “we must bend every effort to discourage additional nations from joining the nuclear weapons club.”
The Senator noted that five nations — Israel, Argentina, Greece, Iran, and Norway — signed an agreement for International Atomic Energy Agency inspection of equipment or material supplied for civilian purposes, but that these agreements are not yet in effect. Citing a proposed non-proliferation treaty presented by the United States to the Geneva Disarmament Conference last August, Sen. Pastore said this conference resumes January 27 and that the United States should offer stronger phrasing.
Tracing the development of nuclear power by the United States, Sen. Pastore gave credit to scientists of Jewish and anti-Fascist background. “We are grateful that America’s freedoms brought to our shores such minds as Einstein, Bohr, Fermi, Szilard, Teller, Bethe, von Neumann and others,” the Senator said. He pointed out that Nazi, Germany had achieved knowledge of uranium fission but the German will not understand it.
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