Library Catalog

Super Bomb : Organizational Conflict and the Development of the Hydrogen Bomb /

Young, Ken

Super Bomb : Organizational Conflict and the Development of the Hydrogen Bomb / Warner R. Schilling, Ken Young. - 1 online resource (240 p.) : 1 b&w line drawing - Cornell Studies in Security Affairs .

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. The Shock of the "New World" -- 2. Advising on the Super -- 3. A Decision Reached -- 4. Moral and Political Consequences -- 5. Dissent and Development -- 6. Tactical Diversions -- 7. Rewriting Los Alamos -- Conclusions -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Super Bomb unveils the story of the events leading up to President Harry S. Truman's 1950 decision to develop a "super," or hydrogen, bomb. That fateful decision and its immediate consequences are detailed in a diverse and complete account built on newly released archives and previously hidden contemporaneous interviews with more than sixty political, military, and scientific figures who were involved in the decision. Ken Young and Warner R. Schilling present the expectations, hopes, and fears of the key individuals who lobbied for and against developing the H-bomb. They portray the conflicts that arose over the H-bomb as rooted in the distinct interests of the Atomic Energy Commission, the Los Alamos laboratory, the Pentagon and State Department, the Congress, and the White House. But as they clearly show, once Truman made his decision in 1950, resistance to the H-bomb opportunistically shifted to new debates about the development of tactical nuclear weapons, continental air defense, and other aspects of nuclear weapons policy. What Super-Bomb reveals is that in many ways the H-bomb struggle was a proxy battle over the morality and effectiveness of strategic bombardment and the role and doctrine of the US Strategic Air Command.




Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.


In English.

9781501745188 9781501745171

10.1515/9781501745171 doi

2019020252


Arms race--History--20th century.
Hydrogen bomb--Government policy--History.--United States
Hydrogen bomb--History.--United States
Political Science & Political History.
Security Studies.
U.S. History.
POLITICAL SCIENCEĀ / Security (National & International).

H-bomb, oral history, strategic bombardment, morality, decision-making.

UG1282.A8

355.8/251190973