Loss

David Lilienthal's decision to retire from public service Wednesday, while not exactly unexpected, was an unhappy event. No man has given more of his time, energy, health, and peace of mind to his country than the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. He left a luerative private practice in the early thirties to serve first on the Wisconsin Public Utilities Commission, then as Director of the TVA, and finally as AEC head. At no time has his salary approached a just renumeration for his services.

Lilienthal has made a positive contribution to the concept of civil service by leaving private life when he was trained and experienced to devote his most vigorous years to government service. He has stuck through a series of violent and unjustified personal attacks to uphold his thesis that trained men in their prime belong in government work. He proved this thesis at the cost of his privacy and his personal happiness.

David Lilienthal's resignation is not happy for the country. It will be difficult to find any man who can come close to equalling his insight into the problems of the AEC. But David Lilienthal can at least resign knowing that his reputation is clean and his job well done.