Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Endorsements and editorials are made solely by the ownership of this newspaper. As is the case at most newspapers across the nation, The Spokesman-Review newsroom and its editors are not a part of this endorsement process. (Learn more.)

Past opinions provide perspective

Atomic bomb, Oct. 17, 1945

An S-R editorial discusses the challenges of containing the nuclear power.

“Testimony of scientists and army heads that there is no military defense against the atomic bomb that can give a nation security from its terrifying destructive power leaves solutions of the problem of what to do about it as urgent as ever.

“While the United States, Canada and Britain have the jump on the balance of the world in the production and possession of the atom bomb, all authorities agree that the advantage is only temporary. The secret of this new force is known to scientists everywhere and it is only a matter of time, probably not a very long time at that, until other nations develop a process for making a similar weapon of equal or superior potency.

“Such rivalry will engender more distrust and fear between nations that ever. Each knowing that the only defense is to strike first and try to demolish the power of the other to strike back, the temptation will grow to do just that whenever relations are strained by some important difference.

“Perhaps man has invented a robot monster that is destined to destroy him and all his works. It indubitably will if the nations can not agree upon a way to restrain themselves and confine the employment of this force to peaceful and constructive uses. Its existence makes perfection of the contemplated world security organization imperative.”

Watergate, Oct. 22, 1973

An S-R editorial criticized President Richard Nixon’s firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox.

“Mr. Nixon’s dismissal of Archibald Cox and his Watergate investigatory task force is eloquent evidence of the fact that the president did not want merely an investigation that was not biased against him. It had to be, it now appears, biased for him.

“The firing of Prosecutor Cox was costly business from the president’s standpoint. It took out of the administration two of the best men it had, after Secretary of State Kissinger.

“The resignation of Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson over the Cox matter cost the administration the man who was perhaps its ablest administrator and one held in the highest esteem for his integrity and character.

“When Richardson’s assistant, William D. Ruckelshaus, stood by the attorney general, he, too, was summarily dismissed. Richardson had rendered outstanding service as assistant secretary of state, secretary of the troubled department of Health, Education and Welfare, and secretary of defense before taking over Justice. Ruckelshaus, too, added luster to the Nixon administration.”

It concluded: “The person who will be most hurt by the loss of Elliot Richardson, William Ruckelshaus and Archibald Cox from public life is Mr. Nixon. The events of the weekend will have narrowed the gap between the president and the possibility of impeachment action.”