THE KE Y RJlPOR TER THE PHI BETA KAPPA NEWS MAGAZINE VOL. XII NO. 3 This issue goes to the more than 94,000 members resident within postal service SUMMER 1947 Phi Beta Kappa in Japan Opinion Divided on Membership-at-Large Plan; Holds First Post-War Meetings Proposal An active Phi Beta Kappa association Joint Statement Challenges has been revived in Japan, according to word received as The Key Reporter "The current proposal for member- the Society or to the cause of liberal goes to press. Following a preliminary ship-at-large has as yet been presented scholarship from the adoption of this meeting last December to discuss plans, only in broad outline, and it would be now revived plan, and we are convinced members of the reactivated association premature to discuss it in much detail. that its inauguration would have a met on January 30 to adopt a revised Nevertheless, since two articles in The number of harmful consequences which constitution and to elect officers for Key Reporter have set forth the 'ad have been largely ignored in statements vantages' the year 1947. of the plan, it would seem thus far published. Officers elected were: Colonel helpful to set forth some opposing con (1) "Even with the assistance of 'test agencies,' Laurence Eliot Bunker, honorary presi siderations. ing the plan would be ex dent; Lt. Colonel Hubert G. Schenck, "The proposal is in essentials much tremely difficult to administer efficiently president; Yoshio Ichikawa, vice-presi the same as the plan for a 'Council and fairly upon a national scale and Chapter' dent; and Shigeaki Ninomiya, secretary- which was rejected by the unless ultimately it is to be national treasurer. Council of 1934 and by the United in scope, no one would favor its adop Members present at the January Chapters constitutional revision com tion. Not only would it entail a vast meeting also heard an address by Dr. mittee of 1934-37. amount of administrative work, but it Etsujiro Uyehara, Minister without "We find ourselves thoroughly skep would seriously burden the finances of Portfolio in the Yoshido Cabinet. tical of any large benefits accruing to a society which is already finding diffi culty in meeting its ordinary operating U. S. Veteran Students Eager to Study in Foreign Countries; expenses. The adoption of a suggestion, not included in these preliminary an Seek Educational Benefits Available Under GI Bill nouncements but made, it is reported, Hundreds of veterans are now study commerce. Many wish to study the at the Senate meeting, that certain ing under the GI Bill of Rights at liberal arts at one of the cultural centers outside agencies or foundations might educational institutions all over the in Europe. Still others, interested pri subsidize the undertaking would sig world, states Walter C. Eells in an marily in vocational training, prefer to nalize a departure from previous Phi article, "Education of United States acquire such skills as watchmaking in Beta Kappa policy which would demand Countries," Veterans in Foreign in the Switzerland, diamond cutting in Hol most careful consideration. April 1 5 issue of Higher Education. Thou land or oxy-acetylene welding in Eng (2) "We do not share the confidence sands more, he continues, are planning land. of the committee in the efficacy of any to enroll in schools that range from A few European universities have system of examinations thus far devised Iceland to New Zealand, and from organized special courses of study for as a satisfactory method of determining South America to the Far East. Americans. The University of Oslo, for eligibility for Phi Beta Kappa. To be Veterans' The Administration has example, will offer a special summer sure, there is to be a preliminary selec approved over 1200 educational institu session for American veterans this year, tion of candidates by the faculties of tions in 71 countries for education under and the University of Oxford plans to their respective colleges, and the written the GI Bill. The approved list includes hold a special school in "Western Euro papers are to be supplemented by an Civilization" universities of pean for oral examination and personal nearly all the leading the 130 American inter world, as well as many colleges and a graduate students not only this summer, views. Even a slight experience in the number of professional, technical and but also in 1949 and 1951. weighing of letters of recommendation Veterans' vocational schools. During the past year The Administration advises from faculty sponsors suggests the limita the Veteran Administration's Foreign that difficulties such as high living costs, tions inherent in the first of these Education Division has answered about differences in scholastic standards, ancillary processes; and the difficulties 10,000 letters of inquiry from veterans credits and classifications, as well as encountered yearly, for instance by education in food and committees on of wishing to continue their housing, clothing shortages, the selection Rhodes foreign lands. impose limitations on the number of Scholars, may well lessen our confidence Veterans are eager to study in foreign veterans who will be able to take im in the reliability of the personal inter countries for a wide variety of reasons, mediate advantage of the opportunity view. Performance in a single set of expect to be for foreign under the GI written the article reports. Some study Bill. examinations would probably come language teachers; others are aim Nevertheless, it is believed that the prove to be the most dependable cri ing toward a career in the State Depart increasing interchange of veteran stu- terion for membership-at-large, and international ment or in the field of (continued on page 9) (continued on page 8) www.pbk.org [2] THE KEY REPORTER Summer, 1947 among those Congressmen and others Scientists For Survival who had sensed the end of an age. Opposition to the May-Johnson Bill by J. H. Rush developed from many quarters, and it was held in Committee while Senator cpBK, University of Texas, McMahon's Special Committee on Secretary-Treasurer, Federation of American Scientists Atomic Energy entered into an exhaus tive study of the problem. During this When the late war ended in a Uppermost in the minds of the atomic period the scientists found much to do. thunderclap, it left two note scientists were two facts, and a con They testified before the Senate com States' worthy developments in its wake. Sci clusion. The United monopoly mittee, and helped publicize its work. ence had become politically interesting; of atomic bombs will be brief. No They developed support and publicity and scientists had become interested in effective military defense is in pros for a proposed Congressional Resolution politics. pect. The only hope for security there calling for United Nations action on Both developments were, of course, fore lies in world control of atomic world control of atomic energy. They long overdue. Friar Bacon's gunpowder, energy. advocated a National Science Founda Galileo's telescope, Faraday's dynamo, It was not that they ever regarded tion to support fundamental research. Hertz' radio waves all these and such control as a panacea. They saw They discussed the bomb problem with many other scientific advances had dic clearly enough that any war between government officials and lay audiences, tated the methods of warfare long great powers will be an atomic war, spoke on the radio, and worked closely before 1940. Yet men still talked know and that the problem is to eliminate war with writers and reporters to correct science," ingly of "pure and political itself. But they reasoned that inter popular misconceptions and to create leaders generally had not grasped the national control of atomic energy would more appreciation of the problem. significance of the quiet, persistent in be the most promising point at which to co- tellectual groping which underlies tech attack the problem of war. It would Kecognizing the need for better nological provocation to attack ordination and a recognized might. Nor had scientists tried remove a grave ,_ name, very much to improve the social and and offer a substantial field for co eight scientists from New York, Chicago, political context in which they found operative development, and it posed a Oak Ridge, and Los Alamos met in a themselves. Many found easy refuge in dramatic but relatively simple problem Washington hotel room on November 1, the faith that the fledgling bits of new not yet entangled in old issues. 1945, and formed the Federation of knowledge which they loosed upon the Spontaneously, and with little contact Atomic Scientists. Their brief declara world must work inevitably for human at first among the various groups, the tion specified, among other things, that betterment. Others, not so sure, never atomic project scientists formed associa "the governing Council of the Federa theless shrank from the uncongenial tions at Los Alamos, New Mexico; tion shall consist of those delegates stresses of politics and despaired of Chicago; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and who are in Washington at any given time." exerting any substantial influence in the New York. These associations comprised world of affairs. And in a way they were about ninety per cent of the research Two weeks later, F.A.S. members met right, for it was only the prestige resulting scientists in these laboratories. Nor were with representatives of sixty national from the belated recognition of their they the juvenile uprisings that they are organizations religious, farm, racial, political value that gave them the power still sometimes represented to be. labor, civic, and other groups and to strike back. Younger men predominated, because laid before them the problem of dis Nearly all of the scientists on the they predominated in the project; but seminating promptly authoritative in atomic bomb project saw more or less charter members included Section formation on the political implications clearly that trouble lay ahead.