Page "United States v. The Progressive" Paragraph 13

As early as 1948, the House Un-American Activities Committee had construed " atomic secrets " as mystical formulae that could be written down.

In 1950, the Atomic Energy Commission asked the Scientific American not to publish an article an article by Hans Bethe that it claimed revealed classified information about the hydrogen bomb.

Scientific American reluctantly agreed to stop the presses and make changes in the article, and to recall and burn the 3, 000 copies that had already been printed.

The 1951 arrest of Klaus Fuchs, Harry Gold, David Greenglass, Morton Sobell and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who, according to Hoover, " stole the basic secrets of nuclear fission ", caused great concern.

President Dwight Eisenhower denied the Rosenbergs clemency on the grounds that their actions " could well result in the deaths of many, many thousands of innocent citizens ", and they were executed.

After the Soviet Union detonated Joe 4 in August 1953, newspapers proclaimed that the Soviets had tested a hydrogen bomb.

In fact it was but a boosted fission device like Alarm Clock, but the veil of secrecy covering the thermonuclear program prevented scientists from informing the public.