ATOMIC SHIELD,

1947-1952. By RichardG. Hewlett '45 and Francis Duncan.Philadelphia: University of PennsylvaniaPress, 1969. 718 pp. $11.95.

Atomic Shield is the second volume of the official history of the Atomic Energy Commission. The first volume, The NewWorld, was written by Richard G. Hewlett '45, with the co-authorship of Oscar E. Anderson Jr., and published in 1962. It described the wartime work in atomic energy, principally through the Manhattan Project and the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War 11. In this second volume, Hewlett has teamed with Francis Duncan to write the history of the early post-war years, 1947 to 1952, when the direction of the atomic energy program was passed from military to civilian hands, when the early efforts to internationalize atomic energy controls were torn on the barriers of mistrust and rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, and when the program was forced into a new period of advanced weapons development under the pressures of a "cold war."

As official history, Atomic Shield - like The New World before it - needs to be viewed somewhat differently than other books. It deals with events (e.g., the H-bomb decision) that remain controversial and are recent enough and critical enough to continue to affect the events of the present day. It deals with people (e.g., Lilienthal, Oppenheimer, Teller, Carroll Wilson, Glenn Seaborg, Conant, and Lewis Strauss), most of whom are still living and whose reputations could be seriously influenced by this account of their behavior in conference rooms and corridors that have until now been secret and private.

Only those who participated in the work of the Atomic Energy Commission in these years of difficult and agonizing decisions can know for certain how accurate an account this book provides. But certainly there is no effort by the authors, as "official" historians, to be deliberately bland, to avoid analyzing troublesome issues and decisions, to present institutionalized figures and leave it at that. On the contrary, they provide the details of success and of failure both; the differing positions of the members of the AEC and their scientific advisers on crucial issues; the intricate, often frustrating and frequently brutal bureaucratic rivalries among all the interests involved in the program. Most important perhaps, people emerge as complex beings, taking on awesome responsibilities and facing the hardship and trials of mind and spirit with strengths and weaknesses we recognize as eminently human. Indeed, there are insightful and sobering portrayals of the principal characters in this history, portrayals that help us understand why certain men acted one way on a question like the H-bomb and others another way, and these help us avoid simpleminded notions of good and evil.

In all, Atomic Shield is a major achievement of history, a work of highly professional and skillful scholars. With access to all important sources of information and supported by an advisory committee of eminent historians, the authors have written a book that carries lessons not only in the field of its particular focus, but in the broader areas where science and politics are increasingly inter-related in a web of stern complexities.

Mr. Lyons is Professor of Government atthe College.