The Evening Star (May 10, 1946)
Editorial: Observers at Bikini
There may be some merit in the argument that the July-August atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll will lack sufficient technical preparation, but there is nothing to be said for the point that the act of staging them will be offensive to other nations. At President Truman’s formal direction, invitations have now been issued to all members of the United Nations Security Council, plus Canada, to have observers on hand for the historic experiment. This means that “Operation Crossroads,” though a project to be conducted under exclusive American control, will have an international flavor. Every member of the U.N. Atomic Energy Commission will have the opportunity to witness the show at a safe distance, and each of them will thus be able to see whatever can be seen without danger and to report to his government all results except those which will be restricted as a security safeguard until secrets can be freely shared under a system of world control.
Accordingly, those who argue that the forthcoming tests should be postponed because other powers might consider them to be an irritating display of American power – a military gesture with “big-stick” implications – have little ground on which to defend their point. Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Britain and the Soviet Union, if they accept the American invitation, will all have observers in the neighborhood of Bikini. Far from being irritated, they will be tremendously interested – as they should be – and there can be little question that their limited but important participation in the experiment will serve a useful purpose in promoting the international regulation of the fearsome problems raised by the development of atomic energy. On this score, though technical objections may still be raised, there can be no serious doubt about the wisdom of the project.