"To Shake in Our Shoes"

Molotov said: "It is a known fact that a sort of new religion has gripped the expansionist circles of the United States. Having no-faith in their internal strength, they put their faith in the secret of the atom bomb, even though it has long since ceased to be a secret."

Communist Party bigwigs in Moscow's Bolshoi Theater beamed at each other in open, reassured relief. Their smiles said: "Ah, now we've got it too." But Molotov's words, obviously intended for home consumption, seemed to strike some U.S. editors all of a heap. They splashed Molotov's boast with big black headlines usually reserved for major catastrophes.

In fact, Molotov said no more than U.S. scientists and political spokesmen have been saying plainly for two years. Since U.S. publication of the Smyth report (TIME, Aug. 20, 1945), there has been no basic "secret of the atomic bomb." To make the bomb requires a host of highly developed technological "secrets" which Russia might not have. In time Russia" would have all these little secrets, too. The U.S. understood that the Russians would some day be able to make the bomb. That was one reason why the U.S. had offered free exchange of all information, provided only that subscribing nations submit to international inspection and control of atomic activities. That offer still stood, but the Soviet leaders had repeatedly refused it. Many of Molotov's hearers had not been, told this, but the U.S. editors acted as if their ears, too, were muffed by iron curtains.

The Manchester Guardian accurately appraised such Soviet statements. It said: "They would like us to shake in our shoes. But if we remember some of the other things that are happening, we may feel that there is more weakness than strength in this aggressive tone."

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