In the early hours of May 15, on Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean, an earth-shattering rumble went up into the morning air, bringing forth not only a large crater on the desolate land, but the outbreak of controversy as well. And it seems the world has left the handling of this dilemma in the United States’ hands.
This was the first nuclear bomb testing of what some see as many to come conducted by Britain. They are doing so in attempts to bolster their military defense so they will "be prepared if another threat to the world’s well-being is made" as British authority Samuel Marsh put it, undoubtedly referring to another outbreak of war. Also joining in on this radical rearming is the Soviet Union (USSR) and perhaps, although this has yet to be confirmed by international authorities, China as well.
No action had yet been taken to prevent such bombings as of last month simply because no offense had actually been made by either the British or Soviet nations. And although there is still nothing that states that what they are doing is wrong (under the law set forth by the United Nations), a moral alarm has gone off throughout the world, especially in the United States, prompting action.p
The first such action to come about occurred when concerned American and Russian scientists called the First Pugwash Conference of Nuclear Scientists to address their worries. One scientist, Dr. Tom Stevens even went as far as to say that the "misuse of nuclear energy could lead to the annihilation of mankind" and that immediate action must be taken. The brunt of the conference went towards discussing how to avoid a "nuclear holocaust" although little progress was made.
However, as has happened so many times in the past, the United States came into the situation geared solely toward resolving it without haste. They proposed to do so by creating an organization that will be respected by all parties. This came in the form of the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (commonly referred to simply as SANE) which has quickly become dedicated to stopping a potentially dangerous situation from happening, the operative word being "quickly", also the reason for its success. The committee believes that "unrestricted warfare would be a disaster of unprecedented magnitude" and so all that can be done to prevent such disaster will be done, and fast.
And thus far SANE has brought about a statement from both Russia and Britain that no more nuclear bombs will be tested on foreign grounds although this does not necessarily mean that production of these weapons will cease.
However, through this still growing international crisis, SANE has found a small ray of positive light in saying "any progress is a step in the right direction and we expect to work more with all sides in hopes of resolving the situation without any further incident."
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Trager, James. The People’s Chronology. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979:,/p>
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