UNITED NATIONS: Unanimous Atoms

The Russian delegate’s hand went up. So did 59 others. Last week President Eisenhower’s “atoms for peace” proposal for an international atomic agency was approved unanimously by the U.N.’s Political and Security Committee. The resolution urges the establishment of the agency “without delay,” calls for “an international technical conference of governments” to be held next year to explore the peaceful uses of atomic energy and how to put to work the 220 Ibs. of fissionable material donated by the U.S. and the 44 Ibs. added by the British.

Russian Delegate Arkady Sobolev warned that Russia’s vote was only intended to “record its approval of the idea” of international atomic cooperation and that the program had “serious shortcomings” which must be the subject of “further negotiations.” But he voted aye. “An historic moment,” said U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.