Foreword<br > The thirty-ninth President of the United States， Jimmy Carter， in-<br > herits a nuclear arms race that started during the administration of<br > the tl~-third President， Harry S. Truman.<br > Addressing himself to that problem at a press conference two<br > months before his inauguration， Carter expressed the hope that the<br > United States and the Soviet Union would be able "to freeze pres-<br > ent developments and then to lower， step by step， the quantity， at<br > least the quantity， of atomic weapons on which we presently de-<br > pend， with an ultimate goal of reducing dependence on atomic<br > weapons to zero."<br > Encouraging as this may sound to those who seek a termination<br > of the nuclear race， the fact is that every President since World<br > War II has made similar statements， and usually more forcefully.<br > The Bamch Plan， presented to the United Nations in 1946<br > under the sponsorship of President Truman， provided that:<br > "1. Manufacture of atomic bombs shall stop.<br > "2. Existing bombs shall be disposed of..."<br > President Eisenhower， in his address to the United Nations<br > (December 8， 1953) on "atomic power for peace，" called on the<br >superpowers to "begin to diminish the potential destructive power<br >of the world s atomic stockpiles."<br > President Kennedy， in the course of proposing a "Program for<br >General and Complete Disarmament" to the United Nations in the<br >fall of 1961， pictured the horror of "a nuclear disaster， spread by<br >wind and water and fear，" and asserted that "mankind must put<br >an end to war-or war will put an end to mankind." "The risks in-<br >herent in disarmament，" he continued， "pale in comparison to the<br >risks inherent in an un/imited arms race."<br > President Johnson， during his first year in office， proposed the<br >