Foreword

FOREWORD he current race for better and more nuclear weapons is best understood within the framework set by the legacy of 1945. The history, the strategy, the psychology, the technology, and the sheer emotional power invested in the development of these arms has imbued the relatively short nuclear age with an unprecedented sense ofurgency. The politician turns philosopher, the scientist turns poet, the lawyer turns altruist, the academic turns pragmatist. This issue of the SAIS Review attempts to synthesize these transformations. Former Secretary of War Henry Stimson justifies America's use of the atomic bomb against Japan in the reprinted version of his February 1947 article in Harper's. John Harper probes behind the surface of Stimson's essay to question some of his assumptions and to chart the forty-year course of Stimson's logic. The views of the scientists who developed the weapons from the Manhattan Project to the Strategic Defense Initiative are presented in an article by John Weltman of Los Alamos National Laboratory. Jonathan Weisgall, in contrast, offers a less appreciative assessment of the impact of nuclear weapons in his article about the fate of Micronesia and the nuclear Pacific. Thoughts on the aftermath of war and its prevention are presented by two prominent observers from Europe. Richard von Weizsäcker, president of the Federal Republic of Germany, expresses the German people's need to accept its past and acknowledge its responsibility for the war that divided Europe. Pierre Lellouche, in turn, argues that "Star Wars" will endanger the stasis of peace that has been the unlikely result of this division. Steven Fleischmann analyzes the crisis of authority in national security in the context of nuclear deterrence, and D. Geoffrey Peck chides liberals for their inertia in arms control. Michael MccGwire takes a hard look at the origins and consequences of deterrence, and Richard Ned Lebow puts himself in Reagan's shoes in an attempt to stop the arms race. Current American foreign policy is examined by two well-placed observers in Washington. Representative Stephen Solarz explains how the United States should promote democracy more actively in the Third World, and Nancy Mitchell of SAIS suggests that vigilance is the overarching metaphor for the Reagan administration's foreign policy. Mark Ellyne describes Eastern Europe's debt morass, and notes that opportunities abound for Western governments to increase their influence in the CMEA. In the Western hemisphere, Gordon Richards posits a correlation between economic crisis and loss offaith in democracy in those Latin American nations that fell under the blow of military authoritarianism in the 1960s and 1970s. The limits of the Caribbean Basin Initiative are explored by Scott Tollefson, while JoAnn Fagot Aviel looks at the strategies trading partners would find most effective in negotiating with the United States. Japanese foreign policy comes under Marvin Ott's watchful eye, especially since its recently awakened interest in the oil-rich countries of the Middle East. William Harris brings us a report from the occupied West Bank, drawing disturbing conclusions for Israel's future as a democratic state ifit persists in its harsh methods ofresettlement. Finally, William Zartman recounts the difficult history of the Namibian settlement question and predicts the prospects for future resolution, while attorneys Paul Mason and Thomas Marsteller, Jr., propose an overhaul of current U.N. mediation strategy. Common to all articles is the desire to comprehend current problems and the ability to suggest novel approaches to resolve them. One can only hope that as the awareness of the history of nuclear weapons grows, the likelihood of their use will become ever more remote. Remembering the darkness of the years 1939-45, one hopes that the potential horror of any war will never be forgotten. And as the links between economic health and the prospects for democracy in the Third World are drawn more clearly, let us hope that policy toward these countries becomes more generous and astute. Finally, in the light of new strategies for negotiation and compromise, may the prospects for peace be genuinely strengthened. With these goals in mind, then, listen to the philosophy of the politician, hear the poetry of the scientist, see the altruism of the lawyer, and know the...