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THE CURSE
OFWAR
e
Over
four
trillion dollors
will be
spent on
ormoments
ond
the militory by oll notions
during the '70s,
ot
present
rote.
Thot's over
$
J
,000 for
every
person
now
living.
Enough
to
leed
ond
clothe
everyone
on
eorth
for o yeor
or more or
provide
housing
for
over
one
third
of mon–
lcind.
e
Over 90 million people
hove died in mojor wors in
this 20th
Century.
Over holf
of
these deoths
were o
result
of
World Wor
11.
Americo has
lost less thon
one
mil/ion
men
in
oll its wors while Russio lost
more thon
JO
million
in
World
Wor
11
olone.
e
Wor
continues to
directly
cause
mony
social ills long
ofter peoce
treoties
ore
signed. DIVORCE reoched
on
oll-time American
record
in
1946 resulting
from
increosed
promiscuity during the
wor
yeors. INFLATION invoriobly
follows
wor,
as a result
of
MASSIVE DEFICIT SPENDING.
MAlNUTRITION
often
results
from destroyed
housing,
breakdown
of
agriculture and
transportotion
or
laclc
of
money.
The present war in
Vietnam has
resulted
in
YOUTH RIOTS and division at
home.
e
U.
S.
militory
costs repre–
sen#
a tenth
of
the entire
national
income.
More than
the
TOTAL Federal
Budget
of
just
J
2 years
ago.
The
Vietnam War alone has
cost
the
U.
S.
more
than
JOO
billion dollars ancl 44,000
American lives .
The
PLAIN TRUTH
white light. It proved to be anything
but a ''gimmick." This atomic bomb–
the first ever used against human beings
- brought sudden death to perhaps
100,000 meo, women and children. A
slow, agonizing death from burns, radia–
tion and irreparable wounds took
140,000 more lives. Another 100,000
were left alive, suffering from shocking
mutilation and injuries. Estimates of
total deaths range from 68,000 to
280,000. A painstakingly thorough sur–
vey now under way promises to reveal
the most accurate figure yet.
Three days later aoother bomb was
dropped over Nagasaki - a leading
steelmaking and shipbuilding city of
southero Japan. The bomb was dropped
about a mile off center, and thus "only''
about 40,000 perished. Then, five days
later, on August 14, 1945, Japan sur–
rendered. World War
JI
was over.
As the three B-29's which took part
in the August 6 "raid" flew back to
base, one of the scientists on board
wrote a letter to his four-year-old son.
He expressed the hope of much of man–
kind - that the terrible weapon man
had created might bring the countries of
the world together and help prevent
further wars.
San Francisco, 1945
Actually, even before the nuclear
explosions over Hiroshima and Naga–
saki, nations of the world were hope–
fully pursuing this same dream- the
goal of world peace.
The United Nations Charter was
drawn up and signed at the San
Francisco Conference Apri l 25-June
26, 1945. The opening paragraph
announced the idealistic hopes of the
signers:
We the people of the Uoited Natioos
determine to
save succeedíng genera–
tíons
from the scourge of war, which
twice in our lifetime has brought
un–
told sorrow to mankind ...
Right now
-
twenty-five years after
"Hiroshima" and the signing of the
United Nations Charter - is a nttiog
time for us to
STOP
and
THINK.
Has th is goal been achieved? Has
peace become a reality? Living now -
in the decade of the 70's - do we
actually see the countries of the world
brought together in peace? Js the world
really en ¡oying the fruits of peaceful
August-September
1970
coexistence?
Hardly1
And, where can
you look to find
hopef11l
signs that the
problem of "making peace" is finally
about to
be
solved?
A Brief History of War
Since H iroshima and the United
Nations Charter, there have been fifty
mi litary conJlicts classified as wars. Even
as you read this article, war rages in
Vietnam, Cambodia, and is on-again–
off-again in the Middle East. There are
many other world "hotspots."
Yet, that is just the way it has always
been. The
greater
part of man's exis–
tence has been devoted to
preparing
for,
u•aging, oc recovering
from war -
believe it or not!
The same is happening today! The
nations of this world are engaged in the
most costly, sophisticated and night–
marishly deadly arms race ever waged.
The weapons today are nuclear war–
heads- any one of which is greater
than all the explosive power used by
all parties in World War II. And what
are the chances this won't end in war ?
By the Jaw of averages,
1
in 100
- perhaps, in fact, much Jess than that.
If
we base our calculations on the
historical record, chaoces of averting a
nuclear war are slim indeed!
Man Today More Civilized ?
But, aren't we more civilized today?
Surely man today has progressed,
through education, to the point he can
finally abolish war. Hasn' t man Jearned
that war doesn't pay, that negotiations
- "dialogues" between nations - are
now the only way to solve international
disputes? Hasn't war become obsolete
in the latter half of this twentieth
ccntury?
The answer is quite obvious.
Witness Vietnam, Cambodia, the
Middle East, Biafra, the Sino-Soviet
border dispute, the constant lndia–
Pakistan quarrelling, the China-India
border dispute, not to mention the Tur–
kish-Cypriot struggle, the Northern I re-
Ambou odor College
Photo, UPI , Wide World
Atomic destruction in Hiroshima
25 years a go. The mangled steel,
top photo, was close to " ground
zero." The bomb shown in inset
is of the same type dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.