Part 31 (1/2)

We drove down to the District the next day through a nasty cold rain that threatened to turn to sleet The usual congestion in Washi+ngton was made worse by the weather; it very nearly caused us to be late in arriving I could hear Manning swearing under his breath all the way down Rhode Island Avenue But ere dropped at the ing entrance to the White House with twowas ushered into the oval office alet comfortable in civilian clothes After soplaces

The thirty minutes went by

The President's reception secretary went in, and came out very promptly indeed He stepped on out into the outer reception rooan with, I'm sorry, Senator, but-” He came back in, made a penciled notation, and passed it out to an usher

Twoappeared at the door and the secretary looked relieved But he did not co instead, ”Come in, John, The President wants to take a look at you”

I fell oversaid, ”Mr President, this is Captain deFries” The President nodded, and I bowed, unable to say anything He was standing on the hearth rug, his fine head turned toward us, and looking just like his pictures-but it seee for the President of the United States not to be a tall h, of course, I knew so of his record the two years he had been in the Senate and while he was Mayor before that

The President said, ”Sit down, deFries Care to s

”You think he can do it?”

”I think he'll have to It's Hobson's choice”

”And you are sure of hier”

”I see”

The President said nothing h I was bursting to knohat they were talking about He co, I intend to follow the procedure you have suggested, with the changes we discussed But I will be down tomorrow to see for myself that the dust will do what you say it will Can you prepare a demonstration?”

”Yes, Mr President”

”Very well, We will use Captain deFries unless I think of a better procedure” I thought for a ! But he turned to land as ulped ”Yes, Mr President” And that is every word I had to say in calling on the President of the United States

After that, Manning had to tellto try to relate the dull and obvious and of repeating things that are coe

We had a weapon that could not be stopped Any type of K-O dust scattered over an area rendered that area uninhabitable for a length of time that depended on the half-life of the radioactivity

Period Full stop

Once an area was dusted there was nothing that could be done about it until the radioactivity had fallen off to the point where it was no longer harmful The dust could not be cleaned out; it was everywhere There was no possible way to counteract it-burn it, combine it chemically; the radioactive isotope was still there, still radio-active, still deadly Once used on a stretch of land, for a predeterth of time that piece of earth would not tolerate life

It was extrehts were needed, no care need be taken to hit ”military objectives” Take it aloft in any sort of aircraft, attain a position more or less over the area you wish to sterilize, and drop the stuff Those on the ground in the contaminated area are deadon the degree of the infection-but dead

Manning told me that he had once seriously considered, in the le person, including himself, who knew the Karst-Obre technique be put to death, in the interests of all civilization But he had realized the next day that it had been sheer funk; the technique was certain in time to be rediscovered by someone else