22 NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LIX No. 68 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1957 Per Copy—15*
Khrushchev Boast of Super Bomb
That Could Melt Arctic Waters
Sounds Like Tale From Science Fiction
By WILLIAM L. RYAN
AP Foreign News Analyst
Nikita Khrushchev, adept poli
tician, television personality and
conversationalist, may have an
other fascinating side to his per
sonality.
There is reason to suspect the
Communist boss has been dipping
into science fiction thrillers made i
in the U.S.A.
The press in Warsaw quoted '
Khrushchev May 30 as saying the
Soviet Union has a nuclear weap
on so formidable it does not dare
to test it.
“We couldn’t even test in in the
arctic,” Khrushchev was quoted.
“If we set it off at the North Pole,
it would melt the icecap and send
the oceans spilling over the
world.” I
Scientists have estimated that
thawing of the polar icecap would j
raise ocean levels more than 70
feet, putting London, New York,
Washington, Philadelphia and
many other cities under water. ;
It is highly questionable, however, I
whether nuclear bombardment
could melt much of the icecap.
But the idea is not a new one.
Indeed, it show’ed up in science
fiction in the United States five
years ago, in a novel by Gerald
Kersh, himself of Russian descent.
The novel appeared serially in
1952 in the Saturday Evening Post
as “The Mystery of the Third
Compartment.” Later it was pub- i
lished in England as “The Great |
Wash,” and then by Ballantine I
books in the U.S. as “The Secret
Masters.”
The plot concerns a group of !
villainous international ' multi-!
millionaires and mad scientists
who have developed a “megatopic
sillicon bomb” capable of making
its possessor master of the world.
They realize that atomic bom
bardment couldn’t melt the polar
icecap. Their plan is to bomb
Pilot Rescued
From Jet Plane
Down in Atlantic
ABOARD THE USS SARATO
GA, —The pilot of a jet plane
which plunged into the Atlantic
last night has been rescued, it was
announced aboard this superoar
rier today. A second pilot is still
missing. . '
The report spelled at least par
tial success for a mercy operation
that had sharply curtailed Navy
maneuvers at which President Ei
senhower, a guest aboard the Sar
atoga, wTas a spectator.
Sixteen of the 18 warships es
corting the “Big Sara” had been
sent to take part in the hunt, and
four of the 60,000-tcn carrier’s
own planes were put into the
search at dawn.
Announcement of the rescue
came soon after word had been
received aboard the Saratoga that
a man on a life raft had been
sighted about 120 miles northeast
of Jacksonville, Fla.
away at Atlantic and Pacific bar
riers and permit warm waters to
rush on the icecaps, thus flood
ing polar waters over most of the
| world. Only those entrenched in
i high places would be saved, and
| they would rule what was left.
“It is indicated,” says one of the
I characters, “that the melting of
I the earth’s icecaps and subse
: quent rising of the waters may be
| expedited by the use of bombs . . .
those submarine dams which are
to be pinpointed with atomic
bombs must be in the rocky bar
riers which extend under the sea
between Newfoundland and Eng
1 'and in the Atlantic and under the
Bering Straits in the Pacific . . .
Smash this barrier and countless
(Continued on Page Two>
77 Degree Heat
Yesterday Breaks
28-Year Record
Yesterday’s record 77 degrees
at Nome Field broke a 28 year
record for June 6 heat. The pre
vious high for that day was 69
degrees in 1929. In town the
thermometer registered 81 de
grees. And in Kotzebue it was
reported that 84 degrees was re
corded.
Today the temperature at noon
was 69 at the Weather Bureau but
thermometers on Front Street re
gistered 79 degrees, in the shade.
If this heat wave continues the
City Council will have to add a
life guard to its city police force
since hundreds of children, §nd
adults, have been swimming in
Bering Sea near the mouth of
Snake River.
Crops Flourishing
At Pilgrim Springs
i Visitors to the Pilgrim Hot
! Springs report everyone there is
' busy enlarging the growing area.
Earl Owens, who has under
taken the farming project, reports
that potatoes, watermelon, straw
berries, tomatoes, corn, and sev
eral other root vegetables are up
and thriving.
Wednesday the temperature in
the greenhouse was 90 degrees
and the outside temperature was
80 degrees.
The farming team includes Mr.
and Mrs. Owens, Christine Jo
seph, Fritz Chambers, Peter Bar
ber and Roberta Ross.
The earliest crop will be rhu
barb which will be marketed lo
cally very soon.
Interior Dept. Proposal
Would Open Alaskan
Water to Oil Development
WASHINGTON, (J*)—Represen
tative O’Brien <D-NY> said today
he hopes to have his House terri
tories subcommittee take up next
week a Interior Department pro
posal to open Alaska’s navigable
water to possible oil development.
The bill, actually a substitute
for a somewhat broader proposal
by Delegate Bartlett, would auth
orize the Interior Secretary to
lease for oil and gas development
all lands beneath Alaska’s inland
waters as well as those along the
coast above the low tide mark.
Both proposals provide that the j
government turn over to Alaska j
twice a year an amount equal to I
90 percent of lease revenues.
Of this the department would i
require the territory to use 37x/2 j
percent for road construction and j
maintenance or public school sup- j
port. The rest could be used in j
any way desirable by the Alaska !
Legislature.
GO? Leaders Llear Only Hope for
Gut in Government Spending Depends
On World Disarmament Agreement
C
| Norstad Says
| NATO Stronger
Than Ever Now
WASHINGTON, WV-General
Lauris Norstad said today the
military forces of the North At
lantic Treaty Organization now
have “the capability of destroying
whatever targets we must knock
out.”
The NATO commander told the
Senate Foreign Relations Com
mittee the forces are “three to
four times stronger and many
times more effective” than when
they were set up by Gen. Dwight
D. Eisenhower six years ago.
Norstad appeared before a
closed session, but parts of his
testimony were made public. He
voiced full support of President
Eisenhower’s $3,865,000,000 for
eign aid program.
Opponents of the program—de
feated in attempts to deny the
President longer range authority
on spending abroad—concentrat
ed their fight today on reducing
its total at a session following
Norstad’s appearance.
Norstad, who flew back to this
country yesterday, said that in
western Europe “there can be no
question but that the progress we
have made4 could not have been
made without U.S. military assis
tance.”
“At some time, probably in
1953, NATO crossed the threshold
of hope and one by one the indi
vidual nations began to believe
that the Soviet threat had been
countered,” he said.
GOVERNOR AND FAMILY—Alaska's new governor, Mike Siepovich, and his wife
Maiilda pose with their seven children. Mrs. Stepovich is holding 6-month-old Teddy.
Domenic, 17 months old, is in his father's lap. Christopher, 3Vi, is between his par
ents. Behind them, left to right, are Antonia, 8Vi; Mike, 6; Peter, 4Vi; and Maria, 7.
*> WASHINGTON UPi—Republican
Party leaders heard today the
only real hope for a substantial
cut in government spending rests
in some kind of world disarma
ment agreement.
Robert E. Merriam, assistant
budget director, told the Repub
lican National Conference that
unless there can toe some limita
tions on armaments he looks for a
budget next year no lower than
President Eisenhower’s $71.8 bil
lion spending program for the
year beginning July 1.
In a question and answer ses
sion, Merriam was asked by L. M.
Berry, Florida GOP Finance Com
mittee chairman, whether there
is any hope for future cuts in
spending.
Merriam replied that it was
possible to make some reductions
if some of the programs the fed
eral government now is financing
could be turned over to the states.
“But the largest possibility of
any substantial reduction . . : has
to rest on disarmament.” Merriam
said. “Unless we get some kind of
disarmament agreement, expen
ditures must remain at a high
level.
In opening a session at which
he had invited Republican leaders
from all sections of the nation to
“let your hair down” in criticism
of party policies, national chair
man Meade Alcorn said he hoped
the Republicans would “talk
frankly in a friendly attitude.”
“We are not going to end any
thing here except the carping
criticism of the Republican Par
ty,” Alcorn said to the applause
of the more than 300 delegates.
President Eisenhower address
es a closing session of the two-day
conference later in the day.
Charles Thomas, former secre
tary of the Navy, told the confer
ence he accepted the job as na
tional finance chairman at Presi
dent Eisenhower’s personal re
quest.
Thomas said one of the reasons
he agreed to take over the fund
raising; job was because he was
“mad” at the people he said “are
living in luxury and complaining
about this administration.”
Japan Will Seek Cause
For Recent Temperature
Rise of Arctic Waters
TOKYO, UP)—Two Japanese
government ships left Tokyo to
day for a 4,000-mile criss-cross
voyage in the western Pacific,
seeking clues to the reason for
recent temperature rises of arctic
waters.
Two more small Japanese ships
said tomorrow for the month-long
expedition, part of Japan’s partic
ipation in the International Geo
physical Year.
Thirty-three government ocean
ology experts will observe Pacific
currents during the voyage, which
will concentrate in an area eas
of Japan in which cold and warm
currents are believed to mix.