Statement by the President on the Contribution of British and American Scientists Toward Peaceful Uses of the Atom.

THE SIMULTANEOUS ANNOUNCEMENTS yesterday by Lewis L. Strauss, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, and Sir Edwin Plowden, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Authority of the United Kingdom, is evidence of the continuous work going on by scientists of our two countries to harness the atom for the benefit of mankind.

The eventual peaceful evolution of the vast thermonuclear power of the hydrogen bomb from an instrument of war to a service to humanity opens up unbelievable vistas for the future.

This is only a first step, but it does bring within the realm of possibility a limitless supply of atomic power and energy for all the world for many thousands of years to come.

The people of the United States congratulate the American and British scientists for the contribution they are making toward peaceful uses of the atom. All Americans sincerely hope that other scientists in other countries will be encouraged by their governments to do similar research.

As these and other scientific experiments continue, the adoption of a worldwide Atoms-for-Peace program becomes more inevitable to permit all scientists to devote their skills and energies to the betterment of mankind--not to its destruction.