Arms Control
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I agree with Stephen Ambrose that “Ike’s Arms-Control Advice Has Value for INF Debate” (Op-Ed Page, May 18). But President Eisenhower also believed that nations needed to go beyond arms control and embrace the principle of universal disarmament if world peace was to become a reality. To that end he said: “Controlled, universal disarmament is the imperative of our time. The demand for it by the hundreds of millions will, I hope, become so universal and so insistent that no man, no government anywhere, can withstand it.”
If we were to take seriously President Eisenhower’s overall advice, we would (1) abandon a policy of deterrence that fuels the arms race and does not really deter, (2) stop all nuclear weapons testing and stockpiling, and (3) move toward other than military means for settling international disputes.
Albert Einstein once warned that nations cannot simultaneously prepare for and prevent war, and he was right.
VANCE GEIER
Los Angeles
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