United Nations Atomic Energy Commission

The United Nations Atomic Energy Commission is mentioned in the book chiefly as the body to which Harry S. Truman selected Bernard Baruch as the American representative. The brief reference offers little account of the Commission’s work; its focus is the contrast between Baruch’s official role and Truman’s private assessment of his ambitions.

Appointment and public role

Truman’s recent choice of Baruch to represent the United States on the Commission placed the body within the administration’s postwar nuclear-policy landscape. The passage identifies Baruch’s appointment but does not describe the Commission’s proceedings, its structure, or any policy it adopted.

Truman’s private assessment

In notes on his daily appointment sheets, Truman recorded caustic judgments about many people, including old Senate associates. He described Baruch as wanting “to run the world, the moon and maybe Jupiter.” The remark is evidence of Truman’s irritation with Baruch, not an account of the representative’s conduct or of the Commission’s institutional position.

Significance in the account

The Commission’s appearance is a small but telling instance of the distinction between public responsibility and private opinion in the narrative: Baruch held a significant representative appointment, while Truman privately questioned his reach. Beyond establishing that appointment and revealing Truman’s view, the account leaves the Commission’s activities and influence unspecified.