-- 29 - -
A BALANCE OF T E R R O R
nrcIf·""",b.T hebombexplodedina blindingb ursto fg rccll -
whit e light.The fireballat its centerg rewinto a
towering pillaroffiamc.Ahu ge, colo red mushroom
ofpo iso no u scloudboiled high intothe sky.ItW;IS
N o vember1952 .Amcncmscientiststcsnnganew
weaponhadblastedJwholeuninhabitedisla ndo mo f
thePacificOcean.Theyhadexplodedthe first
hydrogen.orH-bo m b.
The:II - b o m b wasmanyrimesmeredestructivethan
theatomic.o r A-bomb.thatdestroyedHiro shima.
J ust011l'H - b o m bhad(in"timesthed estr uc tive
po werofallthebombsdroppedin fiveyears of the
Secon dWorldWaf.By1953 theRussi ans ,too, had
madeanll-bomb.Uy1957 sohadtheUrit ish .But
onlyrhcA mericansand theRussianscould afford[0
120go0 11m ak in g the m.T hefactth atbot h the Uni ted
Statesand the Sov iet Unionhad l-l-bo mb s
d eterminedhowtheybehave dtowardsoneanother
fo r yearstocome,
T haesameNovember o f 195 2 Dwight D.
Eisenh owerbecamePresid ent .AmericanPr esident s
appoin t aSecrcrarvofStatetotakechargeofthe
UnitedStates'd ea lin gswithforeign count ries.
Eisenho w ergavethisjobto J oh n Foster Du lles.
D ullesw as a man of strong 111 0 ral co nv ictio n s. I lc
gen uin el ybelieve d that co m m unism wasevil.
T ru man, Dullesclai med , had not beenroughenough
w ithth e So vietUnion.H isownideawasfo rrill'
U n ited Statesto rake theoffensive, Instead of being
contentsim plytoroutamcommunism("acringing
poli cyofthe fearful."ash e calledit) theUnited
Staressho uldsetoutto"Iibcrarc"nationsal ready
u nder co mmunistrule, In abroadcast i n 1953heto ld
th e peopleso f easternEurope that theycould trust
th e United Statesto help rhcm.
In 1'J56thepeopleofHun garyp utD ulles' s promise
tothetes t.They had beenu nd erSOVICtcontr-ol since
19..6,Nowtheyro se in rebellionagainstrhcir
comm unistrulers,WhenRussianranksrolledin(0
crus h themth ey sentoutdesperateappealsfo r help.
T hehelpn ever ca me.T ho usa ndsofrefugeesfled
acro sstheIronCurtaintosafety in theneighbori ng
count ryo f Austri a,"Wecanneverbelieveth e west
again,"oneofthem told a reporter,DilliesfailedtohelptheHun garians becausehe
knew that doin g sowou l d meanwarwith the So viet
U nion.The d cvasrario no f n uclearwarwas,h e
decided,(0 0 higha pricetopay (or"rollingback"
the-IronCurtain.
The\V.ayD ulles dcalr withtheSoviet U nioninthe
later 1950sb ecam eknownas"brinkmanship."T his
was because he seemedreadytotaketheUnited
States to th e b ri nk -th e cdge-. o fwartor o ut am
communism .D un esbackedu p his brinkmans h ip
withthreatsO("lII;l SSI VCretaliation. "If rhcUnited
States or allYofitsallieswereattackedanywhere,he
w arned,theAmericanswouldSHih,back,If