what does "hand the slip around"mean? Jerry Wiesner studied the man's expression as the secretary read it. Wiesner thought: The Bomb's been dropped. McNamara quietly handed the slip around—Wiesner felt momentary relief; anything was better than a nuclear holocaust—and then the Secretary acted quickly. Adjourning his conference, he sent Mac Bundy back to the White House in a Defense limousine and conferred with Taylor and the other Joint Chiefs. Over the JCS signature they dispatched a flash warning to every American military base in the world: