In 1946, as the FAS scientists labored for peace, the world
political situation darkened. In the fall Stalin sealed off the
Eastern European nations that Russia had "liberated" during the
War, creating what Winston Churchill called an "Iron Curtain"
across the continent. At the same time, Chinese Communist rebels
grew in power, threatening to take control of the world’s most
populous nation. Fears of Communist world domination began to
ripple through the United States and the Republican Party
quickly took advantage, using strong anti-Communist rhetoric as
a club with which to batter the dominant Democrats and their
President, Harry Truman. After the 1946 mid-year elections, in
which the Republicans gained scores of new congressional seats,
the Democrats, too, began shifting their policies toward a hard
line with the Communist world. In this changing political scene
the liberal scientists’ talk of international cooperation, world
government, and free exchange of scientific discoveries with all
nations, includi