2 B
THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 1. 1962
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, OREGON
fail-Safe' Does
Job of Awakening
Readers To Reality
By A. ROBERT SMITH
Mil Tribune Washington
Correspondent
Washington (Special) Last
week was the wrong time to
read "Fail-Safe" a highly
r"'jufi V"" realistic novel
'jPZlliA about the POS-
'Jt--. J? :'l clear warfare
-Tvrr 1 dcsDite t h e
most strenu
ous efforts
of both the
" Soviet and
American
leaders to
alt averi u.
Cuba isn't mentioned In
this book; nor do any saber
rattling hot heads shove the
world over the brink.
What scares the reader to
death about "Fail-Safe" is
that atomic destruction oc
curs without genuine provoca
tion, without threat to any
thing that might pass for "na
tional honor" on cither side,
without any authentic threats
posed by one aide toward the
other.
. It's all a horrible accident.
It's not that somebody
bumped the button with his
elbow while scratching his
ear. Nothing so simple or
easily remedied.
Co-authors Eugene Burdick
and Harvey Wheeler delib
erately created a cracking
good yarn in which our mili
tary leaders and hence all of
us became the unwitting
victims of the complicated
machines which were created
to secure us. They seek to
show the heavy risk of plac
ing so much reliance upon the
presumed reliability of a vast
network of electronic and
computer equipment and
upon the mathematicians and
scientists who have created it
and defend its reliability even
as the accident Is taking I
place.
Burdick and Wheeler are
college professors bent on
shaking us out of any compla
cency we might have and
they succeed admirably. They
acknowledge they are novel
ists with a message and they
hope even the Soviets will
receive it.
The cause of the accident
Is that a small condenser
blows unnoticed in a secret
machine at SAC headquarters
in the midst of a standard de
fensive maneuver taken by
SAC bombers when an uni
dentified object is picked up
over the North Polo. The
bombers are on their way to
ward Moscow while efforts
are made to identify the ob
ject, which turns out to be a j
crippled friendly commercial
airliner. Normally the bomb
ers never go beyond what is
called the fail-safe point en
route to Russia; there they
circle awaiting instructions to
return or, if it is the real
thing, orders directly from
the president on this special
secret machine to proccde to
their targets.
The condenser fault trips
. the secret fail safe machine,
causing one flight of six
bombers to mistakenly re
ceive a signal they believe
means that war is on. All ef
forts to bring them back fail
even the dispatch of U.S.
fighters ordered to shoot
.them down.
The president, who Is name
less but has many of Ken
nedy's traits, gets on a spe
cial direct telephone line
with Khrushchev to explain
the accident and to try lo
convince him that no attack
is under way, despite the ap
proach of the six plane, load
ed will) nuclear bombs and
headed for Moscow
While this novel may have
literary shortcomings, never
theless It is superior to many
factional offerings w I; I c h
have nothing lo say; and it
has the merit of gripping the
reader with both a good ad
venture story and a terrify
ing look at the world of mili
tary science upon which a
tenuous peace is all too
dependent.
The authors did consider
able research In an effort to
make their story as authentic
as anything can b- that is pro
Jected Into - the future five
years (it lakes place in 1067).
So, there is likely much more
truth than fantasy here.
Ironically, a few years ago,
Charles O. Porter, as an Ore
gon congressman, tried to
arouse the country about the
danger of nuclear war by ac
cident. He wrote speeches
and articles about it, but
hardly anyone cared to listen
and Porter was defeated in
the 1960 election. By saying
the same thing in fictional
terms, Burdick and Wheeler
have created a best-seller that
will enrich them considerably
and maybe we'll all live a
little longer as. a result of
their moralizing.
Year of Hard luck
Old Farmer's Almanac Publishes
171st Edition Despite Many Setbacks
By DICK WEST
Washington -0OT - The Old
Farmer's Almanac has just
published its 171st annual edi-
1 1 o n ana
should like to
pause here
long enough
to wish it
well. I feel
constrained to
to do so be
cause the Al-
s "';. JT j to have been
wt through
a rather trying year. Nothing
catastrophic befell it. It was
just one of those years when
things seem to go wrong.
For one thing, the almanac,
which is chiefly noted for its
long range weather forecasts,
predicted last autumn that the
winter of 1981-62 would be
colder than the year before.
Were It not for the fact that
the weather turned out to be
warmer, the almanac would
have been 100 per cent cor
rect. This erroneous doublccross
by Mother Nature, however,
was nothing to compare with
the frustrations experienced
by Robb Sagendorph, the al
manac publisher, in his deal
ings with other elements of
the communications media.
It all began with what
Sagendorph has labeled
"lha most interesting tele
vision appearance" of th
year.
He was invited to exhib'.t
en a network program in
New York lome of the old
pictures, barometers and
othar memorabilia connect
ed with the almanac's 170th
anniversary.
On the appointed day he
set forth from his Dublin,
N.H.. oftice only to be inter
cepted by a state policeman
who brought him word that
his part on the program had
been cancelled.
He returned home and
spent the evening, as he re
called, "answering calls from
those who had tuned in at
our suggestion."
Some -rnonths later, Sagcn
dorph was visited by a report
er for a weekly news maga
zinc, which led to what he
has labeled "the most inter
esting article about us ii
1962."
After spending two days
being interviewed and pho
tographed, and a week an
swering telephone queries,
Sagendorph was told to
watch for the next issue.
He did. and found a fine
Government Issues ..
Pamphlet on Cancer
Washington -a?H- The gov
ernment Wednesday publish
ed a booklet setting forth sim
ply what persons should know
and do to reduce the risk of
contracting cancer.
The pamphlet, entitled
"Cancer, Cause and Preven
tion," is available for 10 cents
from the Superintendent of
Documents, U. S. Government
Printing Office, Washington,
D. C.
article about the Wall
Street Journal.
Still later, the scheduled
speaker for the Manchester,
N.H., Chamber of Commerce
dinner was reported snow
bound. Sagendorph was pre
vailed upon to substitute.
led to what he has labeled as
"the most fascinating speech
of 1962."
He showed up at the ban
quet room and sat nervous
ly through the preliminaries.
Just as the toastmaster was
about to introduce him in
walked the snowbound orator.
After such a series of mis
adventures, I'm sure you'll
agree that the almanac is dua
for a change of luck. For iis
sake, I hope we are all in
for a hard winter, as predict
ed in the new edition.
ALERT & EFFECTIVE
ta, A3'., fnn lor Corg. Com., ! '.9 . 6ia. I
Ewgtnt, Of, fialph Conb, Cnoirrr.an,
Effective, Responsible Leadership
o ED
BRANCHFIELD
for State
Representative
"Vote for three, including me"
Pd. Pol. Ad., Brjnchtield for Stale Rep. Comm., Sim Harbison, Chmn., 2125 Orchard Homt Driva.
JL S-ii. U k .ML.
a-t rirtk I
X. K - I I I 1 I II II I V "
New York Hews
Employees Strike
New York -HTH- Editorial
employees today went on
trlke against the New York
Daily News, which has the
largest circulation nf any
newspaper In the United
States.
Contracts of the American
Newspaper Guild (AFL-CIO
with the city's other six ma
jor newspapers also expired at
12:01 a m. (EST), but the un
ion said strikes against them
were not planned immediate
ly. At Issue in the strike are
guild demands (or a 10 per
cent general pay increase, a
top minimum wage for report
ers and photographers of $200
a week and a general reduc
tion in the work week from
3 hours to 30 hours.
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