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Super Bomb : Organizational Conflict and the Development of the Hydrogen Bomb / Warner R. Schilling, Ken Young.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextSeries: Cornell Studies in Security AffairsPublisher: Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2020]Copyright date: ©2019Description: 1 online resource (240 p.) : 1 b&w line drawingContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9781501745188
  • 9781501745171
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 355.8/251190973 23
LOC classification:
  • UG1282.A8
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
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
Summary: 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.

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

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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.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 02. Mrz 2022)