ABSTRACT
One can scarcely recall the drama of the occasion, the momentous impact of Dwight D. Eisenhower's comments, the enthusiasm with which they were greeted, the widespread belief that we were witnessing a Marshall Plan for atomic energy. Experts would be mobilized to apply atomic energy to the needs of agriculture, medicine, and other peaceful activities. A Soviet commentator observed that "Mr. Eisenhower had threatened atomic war and made a eulogy to American public policy of force." By proposing an international atomic authority to control and develop peaceful uses of atomic energy for the wide world's benefit, Eisenhower had launched a program of hope which caught the Soviet rulers off balance, seized the initiative, and established America's good faith before the United Nations. The quest for control of the atom has also provided one of the few bonds between the nuclear-weapon states and the nonnuclear-weapon states.
