It has been a rough first half of the
year for us Americans. From the crisis with North Korea to the bombings in
Boston, all hasn't been going to well. One thing that is always on our minds is
national security, and that was breached by Tsarnaev brothers in Boston, but
something that we should always be on the lookout for is our affairs with
foreign nations. In this day and age, any country with Nuclear Weapons is able
to fire them at will and kill tens of millions of men, women, and children.
Nuclear Arms have played a significant role in WWII. Many countries today,
unlike in the 1940s, have their hands on these weapons of mass destruction.
From Pakistan, the country of my origins, to the UK have now officially
declared themselves as present in the vast group of countries have access to
such devices. Nuclear Arms has shaped much of America's foreign affairs since
WWII, and has affected its relations with countries abroad. Coming in to this
project I had an array of inquires. Through categorizing and simplifying the
thoughts and ideas swimming in my mind, I came up with three major questions:
what started the race for nuclear arms, what was the Cold War and how did it
affect the nuclear power of the US, and what is the present day situation in
respect to Nuclear Arms.
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| Hiroshima Illinois |
Nuclear Arms is
in no way, shape, or form a subject to be played with. A few generations before
mine, the United States was involved in WWII. Found on the Rice University website, I saw this war proved to be demolishing
for both parties involved in this clash. The US launched the Manhattan Project.
This project was America's attempt of researching and developing the first
nuclear weapons in history. As found on Energy.gov, on August 2, 1939, Albert
Einstein, a scientist of German origins, asked FDR to recognize the
significance of researching nuclear weapons as he saw the threat of Germany
creating such weapons. Then in June 1942, following the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor, FDR approved the construction of an atomic bomb as it was
reported to be able to be created without much difficulty. This task was
delegated to the Corps of Engineers as part of the US Army. They set up
stations in Oak Ridge, TN, Hanford, WA, and Los Alamos, NM to develop and build
a nuclear bomb. Soon after, President Roosevelt passed away, and Harry S.
Truman became President. A couple of months later, a "plutonium implosion
bomb" was successfully imploded. Less than a month later, a uranium bomb
was dropped in Hiroshima, and a few days later another was one was dropped in
Nagasaki. Thus, America became the only nation to ever use such weapons.
America took a lead in the nuclear arms race as the Soviet Union was unable to
create and fire an atomic bomb at the US. About a year later, the activities of
the Manhattan Project were transferred to civilian hands, those who were part
of the Atomic Energy Commission. Many reactors were made throughout the
US, primarily for peaceful purposes. Sooner than later, in mid-1949, Soviet
Union was able to successfully detonate an atomic device. In
response, President Truman ordered the AEC (Atomic Energy Commission) to speed
up the creation of a thermonuclear device. This started a competition for
dominance between the US and their allies for the amount of nuclear weapons in
their stashes.
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| Atomic Energies Commission Logo Forbes |
Through this
whole time of the Manhattan Project and such, the Soviet Union was using their
spying skills and finding out what our country was up to. I found on JStor how the Soviet Union came into the ring as the second country to obtain nuclear weapons. They saw the building
of a nuclear weapon and therefore saw an urgency to do so themselves. Found on
the Nuclear Weapon Archive, the Soviet Union weapons program also started
during WWII. The Soviet Union kept a low during WWII as they were also fighting
Nazi Germany. However, their operations moved into high gear after the end of
the war. The Soviets got their hands on the design of the bomb used in Nagasaki
in 1945 and within four years, they achieved their very own nuclear device.
Soon after the War Ended, the United Nations was created with the purpose of
stopping wars with countries. I found on the Atomic Archive that the UN
attempted to discomfit the use of nuclear weapons, and in response the US
proposed the Baruch Plan. The author there said that this plan put forth an
international authority to control atomic activities as well as to carry out
inspections. This plan was rejected by the Soviets as it would again be in
favor of the Nuclear Weapons of the US. The speeding growth of nuclear
knowledge of the Soviet Union was of concern to the US and then in the early
1950s the Cold War began.
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| Two Main Members of Conflict United States Naval Institute |
The Cold War
is the big thing of the later 20th century. After the Second World War, the US
was a monopoly in knowledge and materials required for nuclear arms. Found on America
though their exclusivity of nuclear weapons would cause the Soviets to
surrender, but as we all see today, that proved the false. In the early 1950s,
a spike in the interest of the hydrogen bomb was found. Atomic Archive says
that in the hydrogen bomb, "deuterium and tritium are fused into helium,
thereby releasing energy." The response to its production was split
between the people. Some scientists found it as a necessity to put the US in
the forefront of arms production, but some such as I.I. Rabi said it was a
danger to humanity. Truman made the final decision to continue production of
the Hydrogen Bomb and a production facility was made in South Carolina. This
facility was still in business until 1990, shutting down to safety concerns. In
late 1952, the US detonated a "10.4-megaton hydrogen device in the Pacific
on the Enewetak Atoll in the Marhsall Islands." This operation was code named
MIKE. The cloud created by MIKE's detonation was 100 miles wide, and 25 miles
high, destroying life all around the area. The results surprised many
scientists. Again in 1954, a hydrogen bomb using solid lithim deuteride
was detonated, again the scientists had underestimated the size of the
explosions. The predicted yield was only 5 tons, but it had a total result of
about 15 megatons becoming the largest nuclear test ever exploded. This caused
a problem to the people who resided close to the area. About 240 people were
living nearby, and had radiation poisoning. Many years later, a majority of the
residents had developed tumors in their thyroid. A tuna boat was also effected
as a result of this implosion. One on the boat died again due to radiation
poisoning, but the US denied responsibility. Still the US
sent 2.5 million yen to the widow as "a token of
sympathy." At this time, the Soviet Union was also partaking in producing
a hydrogen bomb. In mid-1953, the Soviets tried their first hydrogen bomb, but
this was no way near the type US had developed nine months earlier. This
explosion came in only yielding 400 kilotons. Again in 1955, the
Soviet Union exploded their first real hydrogen bomb, again only measuring 1.6
megatons, this was no way in shape or form near to BRAVO, the 15 megaton
hydrogen bomb exploded by the US. The US took the early race in this match up.
This true hydrogen bomb explosion by the Soviets started a series of
tests. The concluding test here was a 58 megaton explosion. The head of the program
boasted that the explosion could be bigger, but it would have broken all the
windows in Moscow (4,000 miles away). Oppenheimer, a leading physicist of
the US program was slowly kicked out of the program as he was accused to having
associations with the communists and he opposed the development of the Hydrogen
bomb. His security clearance was taken back and was never reinstated. He soon
won the nation's highest distinction in nuclear science, and died a few years
later in 1967. This was a big set back in the US development of nuclear
weapons. A lot of Espionage was part of the history of the Cold War. Many
involved in the Manhattan Project were accused of helping the communists. TruTV had a very interesting article describing FuchOne
of these men was Klaus Fuchs, a theoretical physicist. He alongside David Greenglass
passed secrets to the Soviets. This gave the Soviets insight and without this
America would have a much larger lead during the 1950s in this race. Fuchs was
arrested in 1950, and this led to the arrests of many others. Fuch served nine
years of a fourteen year sentence, and then immigrated to East Germany. Soon
after, many others started getting their hands on nuclear weapons.
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| Klaus Fuchs Univeristy of Missouri Kansas City |
The Federation of American Scientists described the status of the other countries found to have nuclear weapons. Other major
countries soon got their personal weapons. Of these countries, one was Great
Britain. As the Cold War began, they sought their need to have their very own
weapons. In early 1947, they decided to create their very own Nuclear program.
About a year and a half later, they nuclear reactor went critical. They
also happened to create areas for plutonium production and enriched uranium.
They tested their atomic device off the coast of Australia. This explosion was
relatively small, only having a yield of about 25 kilotons. Churchill went
forth with the production of the hydrogen bomb. In 1957, they tested over Christmas
Island on the Pacific and yielded a result of about 1.8 megatons. The US and
Britain decided to start working together in 1961, of which much was made by
the US but available to the British. France also happened to embark
on a mission to obtain nuclear weapons. Their program started in the late
1950s, and by 1960 they had created a bomb yielding about 60-70 kilotons. This
was a very successful first test as it was the most powerful by any nation
ever. By 1968, the French had established a thermonuclear device and it yielded
a 2.6 megaton result. France continued to have atmospheric tests until 1974. In
1995, in partnering with a global protest the French resumed their testing.
Presently, the French have air and sea based forces. France is active in the nuclear
community and is the world's third largest nuclear nation in the world.
In the late 50s to early 60s, the Cuban Missile Crisis took place. George Washington University educated me on the specifics of this incident in the Cold War. American spy planes found missiles in Cuba. The options at hand were to take a military conflict or diplomatic relations. The leader of Russia decided to pull the missiles from the area and months later the US decided to pull missiles from Turkey. It was later found that the missiles were active and could have succesfully attacked the US. Atomic Archive continued to show how America's status with Soviet Union continued to worsen. Many negotiations took place like the Limited Test Ban Treaty. This was an agreement between three major countries to limit production of nuclear arms. After that the main concern became stopping attacks made toward the U.S. The theory of mutual assured destruction was created and is still the status quo today. The goal today is to create a situation where a minimum destruction occurs. The tensions began to get higher but the spending was becoming a burden. Both sides of this conflict were spending over $50 million a day. The US Department of State had the specifics on both the Limited Test Ban treaty and the SALT treaties. This came to create talks with the Soviets began. SALT 1 treaty was created to stop the Soviets from pursuing relation in the Nuclear Warhead column. However technological advances continued. In 1974, Ford and Brezhnev agreed to limit the amount of vehicles each could have, to 2400. Atomic Archive continued to say that the Arms race continued as the Soviet Union updated some of their intermediate nuclear arms. This caused the relations to worsen and the SALT II treaty to be signed. This fixed the loopholes found in the SALT I treaty. When Reagan stepped into office, he sought to win the Cold War by outspending the Soviets. He created new programs that were revolutionary in deterring military relations such as the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). The Cold War ended during Reagan's terms. Gorbachev came into office with the idea of openness and reconstruction. The mid 1980s proved to be crucial in the relations being improved. Much of the Eastern European Bloc began to fall. The most iconic of this was the taking down of the Berlin Wall in 1989. This marked the end of the Cold War. Soon the Soviet Union fell and became the Russian Republic. The Cold War was over. |
| Kennedy Signing Limited Test Ban Treaty Atomic Archive |
In my lifetime we see Russia more of an ally than ever. Personally, I have no hard feeling toward Russia and that shows how much the relations have improved between the US and them in the past twenty years. Today many countries serve a threat to the US, but due to the Cold War, the US has a large capacity of nuclear warheads that can take down any of our threats easily: like Iran or North Korea. This project had lots of information, but due to the limits I could only cover so much. You should look more into it if you are more interested.
Atomic Archive
Federation of American Scientists
George Washington University
US Department of State
TRUTV
JSTOR
Rice
