Truths Unsaid In Nobel Lectures

In their Nobel Peace Prize lectures, America’s Dr. Bernard Lown and the Soviets’ Dr. Yevgeny Chazov, co-founders of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, left more truth unsaid than said.

Dr. Chazov, speaking first, said that if Dr. Lown’s country persists in its efforts to find a shield against offensive missiles, his own country would be compelled to develop offensive weapons to penetrate the shield. What he did not say, because he dared not say it, was that his country has a standing invitation from Dr. Lown’s country to join in the search for a shield against offensive missiles.

Dr. Lown’s said that nuclear war would be both genocide and suicide. What he did not say, because he was not told what or what not to say, was that if Dr. Chazov’s country persists in its efforts to shield its military secrets, his own country would be compelled to build a defensive shield against them.

What both of them should have said, because there was never a better place to say it, would have been that their two countries are pledged under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to “general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.”

Finally, what only Dr. Lown could have dared to say, would have been, “And shame on both of us!” And more’s the shame on Dr. Lown for his indifference toward the freedom that was his alone to say, in the Temple of Peace, of all places, all the things he did not say.

WILLIAM L. MOORE

Hemet