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Sanders, J., June 17, 1946.
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2612 TILDEN STREET, N. W. WASHINGTON 8, D. C. June 17, 1946
Mr. H. L. Oram Room 28, First National Bank Building Princeton, New Jersey
Dear Mr. Oram:
I have your interesting letter of June 11th, much of which I can agree with, but I have a feeling that Item one would be interpreted too broadly and thus prevent private research. I have yet to find government research, as a whole, equal to or better than that of a private individual or groups of them. Also in Item four, while I am thoroughly in favor of international control, I certainly would want to be sure of international control being a reality (which it certainly is not at present) before throwing open for inspection all of our developments of atomic or other secret weapons.
In Mr. Taft's days, I was a member of a League to enforce peace. The all allied cooperation during the war gave me rising hopes that some such organization would materialize. Recent international activities have again dwindled these hopes, my natural optimism however still leaves me some.
I believe this country is at least as idealistic and against war as any and certainly more than most of them and therefore, I am not ready to agree that we should throw open to the world any secret weapons we may have until we are assured of a successful, international understanding and sincere cooperation of all of the countries without vetoing power, for any one country, large or small. A veto power of some kind might be necessary where a proposition is carried by a close majority but that should either be by an individual who can be entirely disinterested and neutral on the issue or a small committee of larger nations directly disinterested in the subject in question or possibly qualified judges of an international court. This is leading us somewhat away from the issue and in the meantime, Mr. Baruch's statement generally is not out of line with my ideas even though I think that the bombs instead of being destroyed should be kept until an international force can be established to use them to keep peace. This development probably makes additional work and funds unnecessary on your part.
Very truly yours,
J. Sanders