College Colloquium Links, Fall 2010, Prof. Janeba

Skating on the Edge of the Unthinkable: The Nuclear Arms Race

Nuclear news and timeline

Major resource websites:

• The Nuclear Information Project  The Nuclear Information Project provides declassified documents and analysis about nuclear weapons policy and operations.
• National Security Archive at George Washington University:
• The Nuclear Vault, resources from the National Security Archive's Nuclear Documentation Project
• The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II, A Collection of Primary Sources - lots of declassified memos about the decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan
  
• Cuban Missile Crisis 40th anniversary page
  
•  A host of declassified U.S. documents on Nuclear History
  
• WMD [information] resources at the Federation of American Scientists site
• The Atomic Archive - a huge amount of information
• The Nuclear Weapon Archive, a guide to nuclear weapons - another huge collection of resources

Important Large Works:

• The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the Manhattan Engineer District (The official army report)
  
• The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, by Glasstone & Dolan, the best known compendium of information about what a nuclear weapon does.  (Links to chapters lower on this page)
• The Congressional Office of Technology Assessment's 1979 report, The Effects of Nuclear War

Some Lists:

• Lists of Nuclear Forces (check when each article was updated; some of these things are changing quickly)
• By country: Delivery vehicles (bombers, missiles) with some info about warheads
• By country: More concise list of vehicles & warheads
• Another fairly recent list of US forces
  
• List of U.S. Nuclear test explosions and Soviet test explosion information
• List of all U.S. Nuclear bombs/warheads through history
• List of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Accidents (with details and some background)
• List of sixteeen "known" nuclear crises of the cold war (Note: This list seems accurate, but finding corroboration would be a good idea before relying on the information.)
  

Links for particular class days:

• Here is a transcription of the last war-room scene. 
• "Plan R" was real: declassified documents show that "presidents predelegated nuclear weapons release authority to the military."
  

• Shute reportedly didn't like the film because of (at least) one change Kramer made to the plot, some of it shown in this clip.
• If you start the clip at 7:29, you'll see some minor changes; do you think Shute would have approved of the very last shot?
  

• Included in today's assigned reading: Secretary of War Henry Stimson’s explanation, published in Harpers Magazine (Feb 1947) of the decision to use atomic bombs. 
        Note the date - this was not the first the US citizenry had heard, it came rather late in the public discussion.
• Optional further reading:
  
• Stimson's memorandum informing new president Harry Truman about the atomic bomb.
• Harrison passes on scientific concern about using the bomb on Japan (see p. 18 Powaski)
• Stimson memo to Truman on the bomb and US-Russian relations (9/11/45)

• Pres. Harry Truman's "rain of ruin" ultimatum on Aug. 9, 1945 (three days after Hiroshima)
• An eyewitness account from Father John A. Siemes (a colleague of Father Kleinsorge's, who was at the Novitiate, about 3 km from the center of the blast)
  

• Today's assigned reading: 
• Assigned portions relevant to our reading in Hiroshima: Direct Nuclear Radiation (p. 19-20) and Combined Injuries (p. 26).  This is part of  the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment's 1979 report The Effects of Nuclear War.
• Text of Truman's statement announcing the bombing of Hiroshima. (See actual assignment handout).

• Some selections for close reading
• White House press release announcing bombing of Hiroshima, August 6, 1945
• US Newsreel about Hiroshima, shortly after the bombing
  
• The Szilard petition (apparently) June 17, 1945 - Powaski says there were 67 signatures, perhaps on additional pages not shown here.
• The Potsdam Declaration, July 26, 1945
• A much longer press release from Sec'y of War Henry Stimson, August 6, 1945
• Translation of leaflet dropped on the Japanese (AB-11), August 6, 1945 (read for details of when dropped)

• Newreel about the first Hydrogen Bomb (fusion or thermonuclear bomb)
• Fireball comparison
• Implications of Large-Yield Nuclear Weapons - RAND briefing document by Brodie, Hitch, and Plesset

• The Bomb for my Pillow, Gregg Ainsworth's memoir of growing up in the early years of the nuclear arms race.

• The (formerly top-secret) Gaither Report
  

• Former Defense Secretary McNamara answers questions in a 2000 forum occasioned by the release of the film
  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/february01/thirteendays.html
  
  
• PBS Newshour discussion of Cuban Missile Crisis and Thirteen Days, with discussion panel including McNamara:
  "the film doesn't really show how close we came."
  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/jan-june01/thirteen_2-22.html
• More:
• The Lippman opinion article, New York Herald Tribune, October 25, 1962.  Several internet sources claim that Lippman was not writing at the White House's behest; the film Thirteen Days strongly suggested that he was.  Stern doesn't say outright.  His discussion of the Lippman article gives us no reason to believe that the White House was behind it. Given that "leaks" and "trial balloons" are designed to be deniable, it may be impossible to say for certain.
• How we know what went on in RFK's crucial meeting with Soviet ambassador Dobrynin on the evening of 10/27/63:  A page from the National Security Archive at George Washington University (scroll down to the account published in RFK's book, Thirteen Days, also Ted Sorensen's later "confession" that he posthumously edited the book to remove the promise to remove missiles from Turkey, and also ambassador Dobrynin's report to Khrushchev about the meeting.
• Listen to an excerpt of the Kennedy/ExComm tapes from the crucial Saturday night.
• Read a critique of the historical value of the Costner film, Thirteen Days, by Kennedy Tapes scholar Ernest R. May.

• State Dept. says U.S. START delay risks Russia ties
  
• Former Bush-administration officials John Bolton and John Yoo argue against ratification in a NYT opinion piece
• Fred Kaplan (author of Wizards of Armageddon) harshly critiques Bolton and Yoo's piece
  

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