American Atom

Philip L. Cantelon is President of History Associates, Inc. Richard G. Hewlett is Senior Vice President of History Associates, Inc., and former chief historian of the Atomic Energy Commission. Robert C. Williams is Professor of History, Dean of the Faculty, and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Davidson College.

"A gold mine of revealing and often hard-to-find primary sources."-Nucleus"Chernobyl has once more demonstrated, as did Three Mile Island, that a nuclear accident anywhere is a nuclear accident everywhere."-Alvin Weinberg"Debate over nuclear policy, whether about nuclear weapons or nuclear energy, most often focuses on issues of the present or the future. The documents collected in The American Atom remind us, however, that the issues involved have a past. . . . We follow the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the 'father of the American bomb,' thorough his letters, observations of those close to the Manhattan Project and testimony to the Atomic Energy Commission. President Dwight Eisenhower's 1953 'Atoms for Peace' speech demonstrates how far back calls for nuclear sanity go, and the listing of nuclear-weapons accidents shows how dangerous it may be to ignore those calls. The book's purpose is not advocacy . . . but historiography, and among its virtues are listings of readings and suggestions for obtaining source documents. Those interested in the nuclear-technology debate will benefit from this extremely useful compendium."-New York Times

• IntroductionI THE NUCLEAR AGE: BACKGROUND AND VISIONS1. Nuclear Energy: H. G. Wells's Vision, 19142. Leo Szilard and the Discovery of Fission3. The Szilard-Einstein Letter, August 2, 19394. The Frisch-Peierls Memorandum, 19405. The MAUD Report, 1941II THE MANHATTAN PROJECT6. Letters of J. Robert Oppenheimer, 1942-457. The Quebec Agreement, August 19, 19438. Anglo-American Declaration of Trust, June 13, 19449. Roosevelt-Churchill Hyde Park Aide-Memoire, September 19, 194410. O. R. Frisch, Eyewitness Account of "Trinity" Test, July 194511. General Groves's Report on "Trinity," July 18, 194512. Truman-Stalin Conversation, Potsdam, July 24, 194513. Military Policy Committee Minutes, May 5, 194314. Stimson and the Interim Committee, May 194515. Interim Committee Minutes, May 31, 194516. Science Panel: Recommendations on the Immediate Use of Nuclear Weapons, June 16, 194517. Stimson and the Scientists' Concerns, June 26, 194518. Chicago Scientists' Petition to the President, July 17, 194519. White House Press Release on Hiroshima, August 6, 1945III ATOMIC ENERGY IN A POSTWAR WORLD20. Henry Stimson to Harry S. Truman, September 11, 194521. The McMahon Bill, December 20, 1945 (Atomic Energy Act of 1946)22. The Baruch Plan23. "What Is the Atom's Industrial Future?" March 8, 194724. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's ''Atoms for Peace" Address to the United Nations General Assembly25. Excerpts from President Eisenhower's Press Conference, March 31, 1954IV THE HYDROGEN BOMB26. "Political Implications of Detonation of Atomic Bomb by the U.S.S.R.," Department of State, Policy Planning Staff PPS/58, August 16, 194927. Statement by the President on Announcing the First Atomic Explosion in the USSR, September 23, 194928. USAEC General Advisory Committee Minutes, October 28-30, 194929. USAEC General Advisory Committee Report on the "Super," October 30, 194930. Lewis Strauss to Harry S. Truman, November 25, 194931. Statement by the President on the Hydrogen Bomb, January 31, 195032. Hans Bethe, Comments on the History of the H-bomb, 1954V THE OPPENHEIMER CASE33. K. D. Nichols, General Manager, AEC, to J. R. Oppenheimer, December 23, 195334. J. R. Oppenheimer to K. D. Nichols, March 4, 195435. Testimony in the Matter of J, Robert Oppenheimer36, Findings on the Case of J. Robert Oppenheimer: K. D. Nichols to the USAEC, June 12, 195437. Arthur Holly Compton to Gordon Gray, April 21, 1954, "Evidence Regarding Loyalty of Robert OppenheimerVI NUCLEAR TESTING AND THE TEST BAN38. Announced Nuclear Tests, 1945-5239. Reported Nuclear Test Explosions, 1945-6840. "Civil Defense Faces New Perils," Ralph E. Lapp, 195441. Atomic Energy Commission Meeting 1376, May 21, 195842. Atomic Energy Commission Meeting 1377, May 28, 195843. W. K. Wyant, Jr., ''50,000 Baby Teeth," The Nation, June 13, 195944. Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space, and Under Water, August 5, 196345. Treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Weapon Tests, July 3, 197446. Protocol to the Treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Reepublics on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Weapon Tests, July 3, 1937VII DETERRENCE47. Bernard Brodie, The Absolute Weapon, 194648. John Foster Dulles on "Massive Retaliation," 195449. Herman Kahn, On Thermonuclear War, 196050. Robert McNamara and Counterforce "No Cities" Doctrine, 196251. Presidential Directive 59, 198052. President Ronald Reagan on Deterrence, November 23, 1982VI ARMS CONTROL53. "Broken Arrows": Nuclear Weapons Accidents, 1950-6854. White House Statement on the Soviet Missile Sites in Cuba, October 26, 196255, White House Statement on Soviet Proposals Relating to International Security, October 27, 196256. Message to Chairman Khrushchev Calling for Removal of Soviet Missiles From Cuba, October 27, 196257. Message in Reply to a Broadcast by Chairman Khrushchev on the Cuban Crisis, October 28, 196258. Statement by the President Following the Soviet Decision to Withdraw Missiles from Cuba, October 28, 195259. Memorandum of Understanding between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Regarding the Establishment of a Direct Communications Link, June 20, 1963 (with Annex)60. Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, March 5, 197061. Treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the L...62. Interim Agreement between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republi...63. USA-USSR Agreement to Reduce the Risk of Nuclear War Outbreak, September 30, 197264. Protocol to the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Re...65. Salt II Treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ...66. U.S. Bishops' Pastoral Letter on War and Peace: A Summary67. William P. Clark, National Security Council, to Archbishop Joseph L. Bernadin, Chairman of the N...IX NUCLEAR POWER68. Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (selections)69. Report of the AEC Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards on the Fermi Nuclear Power Plant, 195...70. AFL-CIO Statement on Fermi, 195671. Preliminary Report on Fuel Damage in Fermi Reactor, 196672. Calved Cliffs Coordinating Committee versus U.S. Atomic Energy Committee, 197173. Three Mile Island; Nuclear News Special Report, April 6, 1979X AfterwordIndex