¡Colores!; 1301; COLORES! 1301 A Commitment To Peace

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry Zukunft is not done economic growth by you stick to I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry

bufewzd bufewzd I saw women who were burned taking refuge, and I saw their faces. Their faces were so swollen, they could not open their eyes, and their skin and cloth were stuck together and hanging from their arms. They were very miserable and their death. They grew some sight. On August 6, 1946, among the ruins of Hiroshima, survivors

of the world's first nuclear war were rallied. They carried signs that read no more war, and peace begins here. Seried by atomic fire, they were reborn as champions of peace. The next year, Meira Mai renamed Hiroshima the city of peace, saying, August 6th should be remembered, for having created an opportunity to establish world peace. These terrifying weapons have brought a revolution in our thoughts. As a result, we find new truths in new paths for starting life a new, that has banned the horror and crime of war and established true peace. Across the world, the man instrumental in unleashing his atomic power was troubled by his conscience and a grim vision. J. Robert Avonheimer saw new weapons evolving that made atomic bombs appear puny. He also saw that a commitment to peace was the answer, and his

1953 security clearance hearing question. You knew, dropping that atomic bomb would kill or injure thousands of civilians, is that correct? Answer, not as many as turned out. Question, how many were killed or injured? Answer, 70 ,000. Question, did you have moral scruples about that? Answer, terrible ones. Question, would you have supported the dropping of a thermonuclear bomb on Hiroshima? Answer, it would make no sense at all. Question, why? Answer, the target is too small. From 1946, nuclear weapons evolved at an astonishing pace. Inspired physics and inventive engineering brought fantastic weapons into reality. The bomb quickly evolved into

a sleek sophisticated weapon. Now, many times the destructive power of World War II could be released in a single afternoon. This was a time of emergency orders, as the United States built a formidable nuclear arsenal to stay the threat of communism. These were the years of the Cold War in deterrence, as Eisenhower defined as, to be constantly ready to inflict greater loss upon the enemy than he could reasonably hope to inflict on us. The Soviets called it simply terror. Most of us that were working on these things could not imagine them being you. He could only imagine them being such a threat that nobody would go ahead with such a thing. If you went the other route, your mind can't handle it, because it's overwhelming to imagine killing millions of people with weapons of this sort. What worried me

then, and it was worried me all through the years, is this thing could go either either way. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were absolutely at the fighting moment of the 20th century, maybe a defining moment of human history. They made it clearer in the most brutal way what this new discovery was about. In nanoseconds, the nature of warfare in our nations would relate to each other was forever changed. War had reached its zenith. The following Cold War years were complicated by personalities, ideologies, old fears, and new visions. Unlocking the secrets of the universe would be relatively easy, compared to finding the formula for peace. It was standing room only for Operation Crossroads, the first non -war related

atomic test, free from the veil of top secrecy. Everyone wanted to study this phenomenon. Redded more implosion bombs almost identical to fat man dropped on Nagasaki. A fleet of 92 aging World War II warships, manned by goats, was assembled. The first test able was an air detonation. The target at the center of this guinea pig fleet was the battleship Nevada. Blamed on poor aerodynamics, the bomb missed by almost two miles. It sank only five ships. Detonated underwater, Baker reeled in 21 kilotons with spectacular effect. Tossed about like toys, nine ships sank. Crossroads is not significant for its development of atomic weapons. It's really in fact lies elsewhere. The awful destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki catalyzed new fears around the world.

The Soviets denounced the atomic bombing as a repulsive act of cynical anti -humanism. Stalin proclaimed atomic bombs are meant to frighten those with weak nerves. Finding a strategic balance with the US would now dominate Soviet thinking. Arguments over the control of nuclear weapons broke out. The United States offered a plan to abolish weapons. The Soviets counted with their plan. Around the world, the sincerity of the US plan was doubted. Four days earlier, Operation Crossroads had ended. Stalin's fears were now intensified. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended one war. Crossroads is significant because it was the beginning of the next. Americans like to think of themselves as well. If anybody has the bomb, we should have it because we know we won't use it except if there's a

good reason. Well, unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn't necessarily think the same way about us. And since we're the only nation that ever actually used these terrible things, it's not surprising. So it was a very necessary thing and they worked just as hard on it as our people and they did it in the same number of months. I don't see anything in Congress about developing weapons and talking peace. I think the general idea of talking peace is best done from a position of strength, not weakness. Operation Sandstone debuted the United States atomic proving grounds on the and a we -tuck atoll in the Marshall Islands. Interrogated by the FBI, test personnel were asked to swear they were not communists. To Washington, it was only a matter of time before

Soviets had the bomb. This may not only one thing. World War III. At the heart of the communist revolution was the belief that the destruction of the capitalist system was crucial for the development of society. The floods of blood ran high. Linden gave birth to modern genocide and Stalin followed, taking hammer and sickle to his own people with unprecedented cruelty. Called the Great Terror, one Soviet official estimated Stalin murdered almost 20 million Russians. Some in Damascus from the Ukraine, Nikita Khrushchev found life in Stalin's inner circle, quote, an insane asylum. End quote. You know, during the war, the Russian military tactics were essentially not to worry about how many of their soldiers were killed. They were just going in front of the attacks and I could perfectly well conceive that they would be willing to, you know, have ten or twenty million of their people killed if they could beat us or get world domination.

This guys are a little bit nuts. Sandstone marked the beginning of weapons evolution. The designs promised a bigger bang and they delivered. The X -ray test yielded 37 kilotons and yolk delivered 49 kilotons. The US could see a 75 percent increase in yield and a 63 percent increase in the number of bombs produced. Thrilled, Los Alamos director Norris Bradbury spread the good news. David Lillianthol, the chairman of the newly formed civilian controlled atomic energy commission, was more sober. He said I don't object at all that the job is being done well, but that there should not be even a single token expression of profound concern or regret that we are engaged in developing weapons directed against the indiscriminate destruction of

defenseless men, women, and children bothered me. The Allied Cooperation of World War II ended abruptly in 1948. Soviet forces took control in Czechoslovakia on February the 25th and on June 24th blockaded West Berlin. In June 1950 communist forces attacked South Korea, a shift in strategy from subversion to outright aggression. Expecting the Soviets to join the fight, the US faced a national emergency. Truman said he would take necessary steps to remedy the situation, saying that includes every weapon we have. Air Force Secretary Stuart Samuten added to the already nervous US by saying, in the atomic age there is no place to hide. And October, the first

air -aged shelter signed appeared in New York City and a booklet Survival Under Atomic Attack, distributed. I remember Los Alamos in probably early 50s, maybe it was in 46. Some of us were abdicating, had the cating bombing Russia once a month. We had limited stockpile, but we thought, you know, what we got to do was get rid of their industrial capability, just keep them on their knees. Interesting, the people who thought this were people who had ancestry in Czechoslovakia or Hungary, the border to the Soviet Union. The most significant atomic test to advance US nuclear weapons took place in northeastern Kazakhstan. The Soviets, Joe Ones, sent shockwaves that reached Washington. They not only were on equal footing with the US, but they

had something far more important, the thermonuclear trigger. Edward Teller would get his chance to build the bomb he dreamed of. The Russians had big army on the ground in Europe and we had the bomb. And then one day we woke up and the Russians had a big army on the ground in Europe and the bomb. That's why there was some of panic in Washington. What shall we do? What shall we do? We had had a weapon that was in clear and decisive advantage of anyone else and suddenly there were two. The thing that always impressed me about the Soviet work was how they were able to accomplish all that they did considering the mess their country was in at the end of the war, the devastation. And it just, that, that has always amazed me. Arrogance intellectual and persuasive, chairman of the General Advisory Committee to the Atomic Energy Commission, Oppenheimer was concerned how the H bomb caught the imagination of

Congress in the military. Emensely influential, he thoroughly angered those who were bent on countering the Communist threat. He felt that the H bomb created a peace quote full of dangers, end quote. Other members agreed and we go, fair me, and I, I, Rabie said, it cannot be confined to a military objective that becomes a weapon which, in practical effect, is almost one of genocide. A desirable peace cannot come from such an inhuman application of force. It is an evil thing considered in any light. As far as I was concerned, if it could be done, it would be done. And there was just no, I had no understanding of the rationale who people who said no, because they had clearly no control of what anybody else could do. And we clearly were still concerned with the Russians very much in the Cold War. And

it was clear that if, if this were a technical possibility, it would be the next step. And so I just didn't understand why people opposed this. Not even out of moral or ethical ground. What, I don't understand this moral or ethical. People shoot each other with bullets. Armies kill each other with bullets, with flame throwers. I see no difference in, you know, it just, you do more at one time. I think war is morally wrong. Any killing anybody is wrong. Truman made the final call. He agreed with the joint chiefs and gave the go ahead saying, we've got to have it for bargaining purposes with the Russians. But from Truman's point of view, I don't think it took him five minutes to make up his mind. The military said we need it. We need it. Boom. I didn't play poker. I'm too tight to, I can't stand losing anything. Money or any competition or a game or anything. I didn't play poker.

I don't like bluffing. Which you have to be able to do if you are a successful poker player. In the Pacific, the quest for a super bomb began. Very hush hush. Greenhouse was to be the first thermonuclear reaction on earth. With top physicists in attendance, it was also the site of remarkable poker games. Despite its impressive energy, fish and head limits. But fusion, the power of the stars, offered unlimited power. It was the prize. In 1941, Enrico Fermi saw how an atomic bomb could create heat equal to the sun. And fused hydrogen atoms, resulting, quote, in a colossal release of energy, end quote. Fermi determined one gram of deuterium converted to helium was 100 million times more powerful than a gram of chemical explosive. And eight times stronger than uranium 235. In the George

test, a cylinder held a fraction of an ounce of deuterium and tritium, isotopes of hydrogen. They were held away from the center of an atomic blast to study the effects of x -ray radiation. Tests had shown an atomic bomb produces radiation densities, many times heavier than lead, and attained stellar heat. 200 kilotons were from fission. The remaining 25, more than the Hiroshima blast, was from less than an ounce of deuterium and tritium. Item -tested fusion boosting, a small amount of deuterium and tritium was placed in the core of an atomic bomb and doubled the item yield. The results of greenhouse gave a new optimism to creating the super, and a later teller confided to an observer that, and we talk, would not be big enough for the next test. Oppenheimer had concerns about the H -bomb being our

salvation. In a letter to Neil's bore, he wrote, it may seem curious to you that we in this country have been so slow to recognize where lay our true hope and our great danger. I have not despaired that we should yet have learned in time. I don't have any trouble identifying with him at all, identifying with his feelings. Believe it, I mean, I can easily see what he's thinking about when he said, you know, I have become death, the destroyer of worlds. There's also the remark he made later, in which he said, in some sense, that no humor, no understatement can cover up the physicists have known sin. I'm not at all surprised with those statements. When I say things like that, myself, I say them rather differently. The position I finally came to when I was working for Eisenhower is that maintaining peace through the threat of mutual suicide is just not an acceptable way to go on into the future.

Although striking progress was made in fission bombs, there was a great pessimism about building the super, creating a thermonuclear fusion reaction required setting off an atomic bomb. Studying this process had its difficulties. Mathematical calculations of unprecedented complexity were substituted. Bradbury was less than enthusiastic, since a workable design was unrealized. Los Alamos resources might as well be put into further development of fission weapons. Early on, all it would trigger offer was his tenacity. His biggest contribution was, first of all, pressing, pressing, pressing. He was the person out in front insisting that this had to be done, and he was the person expressing the technological optimism that said, you know, if we try, we can do it. Working intensely on the astronomical calculations, Sanisla Ullum

saw a magnitude of problems. To help the human calculator, Johnny Van Neumann, and the University of Princeton, created the world's first computer, its job to help create the hydrogen bomb. After promising designs, teller was stumped. He knew it and so did everyone else. Ullum, working hard on using one fission bomb to implode on another for efficiency, had a breakthrough. His wife, Fruss Was, describes coming into the room at their house and seeing him staring out the window into the garden. And he turned to her and said, I've figured out a way to make it work. She said, what work? And he said, it's a really different scheme than it will change the course of history. Capitalizing on Ullum's idea,

plus the experiments at greenhouse, teller seized upon a workable design, radiation implosion would be the answer. Bradbury gave authority to those who could get the job done. Teller would not be in charge of building the super. Frustrated, resentful, teller left Los Alamos. Soon he would work with the E .O. Lawrence to start a second weapons lab, the University of California radiation laboratory in Berkeley. You have a love -hate relationship with teller. Some days you think he's the greatest guy in the world and the next day you really think he's a demon. The push to build up a stockpile, accelerated weapons testing. Buster Djangle inaugurated the model for tests in Nevada. The Department of Defense conducted weapons of facts while Los Alamos conducted weapons experiments. Tests centered on vision refinements and important fusion designs. As the Korean conflict escalated, testing in Nevada became almost non -stop.

It's fractions of a microsecond. Now you have to understand it to say, if the radiation flows from a primary down the area around the fuel and everything else instantaneously, how long does it take to do it? Do I need to contain or is it just the instant impact of that radiation? Oh, that's a real good question. Our initial reactions were he needed to bottle it up long enough for it to work. The mic test of Operation Abby was the first attempt at a thermonuclear detonation. Yeals would now be measured in millions of tons of TNT. Mike was more of a scientific oddity than its atomic ancestor Trinity. It looked like a great big railroad tank car staying on hand. A radio signal from the

USS Estus that 30 miles across the ocean to fire 92 detonators inserted into the high explosives of a Mike's fission primary. As each detonator fired with microsecond cymbaltonaity, an explosive wave formed. It drove inward to compress the plutonium core and the atomic blast ensued. Moving millions of a second ahead of the fission fireball, harder than the center of the sun, dense x -ray radiation flooded radiation channels and instantly converted the polyethylene lining into a plasma. The plasma pushed the x -rays inwards. The uranium tamper is surrounding the liquid deuterium, instantly melted and pushed into the deuterium, heating it to fusion temperatures. Reacting to this tremendous heat and compression was a plutonium rod at the center of the deuterium. It imploded, compressing and heating the deuterium from within.

One of the greatest physics experiments in modern history was a success. Man had seized upon the power of the stars, released it on Earth. A huge thermonuclear fireball created every element known in the universe. The explosion was unprecedented, 10 .4 megatons. The observers were stung. As Ada wrote home saying, Mike rose over the horizon like a dark sun. It was absolutely fantastic, spectacular, and scary. The scary part was the heat.

With just stayed on, it didn't go. We got hotter and hotter. We were about 25 miles away. We really got hot and you kept worrying was the heat ever going to be turned off. You had to keep paying yourself. I thought, I'm 20 some miles away, and yet it's right here. Then it seemed to be growing and growing and growing. The mushroom cloud skyrocketed. In 90 seconds, it reached 57 ,000 feet. In two and a half minutes, it passed 100 ,000 feet. After five minutes, the cloud crested at 27 miles. It stemmed, measured eight miles across, and the top billered over 100 miles. It was about 1000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Now we are all very happy, very elated, successful, and then all we want to do is come home, right away. Let's get home. We'll start doing something else. There were the obvious thoughts

of, well, I calculated it right or we did it. We were ahead of the Russians, and otherwise well, so on the other hand, it's a great pity it didn't turn out to be impossible, so you couldn't have weapons this big. As time goes on, I'm afraid more and more people in government and positions of authority really won't appreciate the magnitude of the potential devastation that our present nuclear weapons can inflict on any country or any city. And I think the only way that you can really burn this into their minds is by having them witness a large yield thermonuclear weapon. The heat, I think, will really make true believers out of them that war is not the answer to any dispute. What's important about hiding about all of these nuclear weapons is not how they look, they look spectacular. Whenever you go to a

proving ground or a test ground, it's always done in a way so as to guarantee that it will be safe. You see the spectacle, but you suffer no pain. So it's pictures of Hiroshima that tell you what these bombs are like. People ran to the river, seeking water, but in the water there were many bodies floating. They were dead or injured people lying everywhere. It was like a hell. The destruction of the city was so shocking that I could not express it with a word. Hiroshima unveiled a peace park.

The people of Hiroshima firmly believed the roots of peace could be found here. The park's centerpiece is the centerpiece. In Skrybon it is. Please rest peacefully, for we will not repeat the evil. It is sad for me to tell my story, but I think that I have to share my experience with as many people as possible to prevent nuclear war. So I am pleased I have this opportunity to speak. J. Robert Oppenheimer no longer had access or a say in the nation's nuclear secrets. Tortured over weeks of testimony, which included an unsupportive teller, the committee revoked his security clearance due to Oppenheimer's early communist associations. The architect of the

hearing was the ultra conservative head of the AEC, Louis Strauss. Strauss would not tolerate oppie whom he thought a spy. Senator Joseph McCarthy congratulated Strauss saying Oppenheimer's suspension was long overdue. A realist and no pacifist Oppenheimer saw the short term need to build more bombs, yet the self -confessed destroyer of worlds was undergoing a revolution of thought. Oppenheimer had conquered science, now he was conquering his conscience. He understood the answer to the equation of war and modern technology. Ironically, Oppenheimer's dismissal occurred as new voices sold away out of the growing nuclear arms race. In his final state of the Union address

of 1953, Truman warned, quote, the war of the future could extinguish millions of lives at one blow and destroy the very structure of a civilization. Such a war is not possible policy for rational men end quote. Taking the arms raised to the next dramatic step, the Soviets exploded their first hydrogen ballam in August 1953. The Eisenhower administration met the Soviet thread. Weapons production reached unparalleled success. Eisenhower wanted to inform a weary world that the U .S. was also interested in peace. Increasingly, he saw at his duty to inform Americans of the consequences of nuclear war and felt everyone would support arms control if they understood the danger. In his pivotal atoms for peace speech, he wanted to set a new tone for the U .S. and the world. The United States pledges before you and therefore before the world.

It's determination to absolve the fearful atomic dilemma, to devote its entire heart and mind to find the way by which the miraculous inventiveness of man shall not be dedicated to his death but consecrated to his life. Thank you. A pointed first secretary, soon after Stalin's death on March 5, 1953, Nikita Khrushchev was briefed on the grim facts of thermonuclear warfare. He said, I couldn't sleep for several days. When I became convinced that we could never possibly use these weapons, I was able to sleep again. In February 1956, the 20th Party Congress convened. It was momentous. Bravely, Khrushchev unveiled Stalin's brutality and began changing the belief that war with a capitalist

was inevitable. Anyone wielding an H bomb demanded respect. Khrushchev declared Soviets faced either peaceful coexistence or the most destructive war in history. There is no third way. Khrushchev was a pretty good man to have in that position at that time because he had, you know, he was in charge of the battle in the Ukraine, Kiev. He was in charge of he knew what war was about. If atomic weapons weren't enough, the advent of thermonuclear bombs revolutionized everyone's thinking. That's one good thing about nuclear weapons because in the first time in history, the people who make these decisions are as much at risk as the poor soldiers that they used to send off to go fight their war. Despite these remarkable events, Khrushchev and Eisenhower vigorously pursued more sophisticated nuclear weapons, each felt in the show of weakness and the other would take advantage of it. Eisenhower's secretariat of state, John Foster -Dallas, drew

up a fearful doctrine of massive retaliation. The deterrent was still the weapon of choice for waging peace. On bikini, Operation Castle used an innovative drive fuel, lithium duda ride, which made castle bombs lighter and smaller. The first test bravo weighed only 23 ,500 pounds with a plan yield of about five megatons. In the early morning hours of March 1st, bravo redefined thermonuclear weapons, the fireball grew beyond what anyone expected. Well, I had this feeling it was a great diseased brain. I don't know, powerful thing, which had connotations of the brain, maybe, is

too much science. It was what he destroyed us all. Bravo was a runaway. It 30 miles out. What Jack Seaman and the bridge crew of the U .S. Baroque saw was unimaginable. Recovering from the supernova flash, they stood in silence. They stared in awe and horror as a thick black and orange cloud roared across the ocean, dropping bright red fire. The quiet of the bridge was broken by a prayer heard over radio, but was from the pilot of an observation plane, who had just witnessed the mushroom cloud she passed his altitude of 40 ,000 feet. A fiddin on the USS Phillips that it was a religious experience, a personal view of the apocalypse. And the reason went high is that we had wrong cross

-sections for the lithium. We didn't know that there was an N2N reaction on lithium -7. Just didn't know it. Equal to about 1 ,000 Hiroshima bombs, Bravo was our most powerful test, healing an extraordinary 15 megatons. All the explosive used in World War II totaled only two megatons. Changing wind patterns and the surprisingly high -heeled spread fall out over 50 ,000 square miles. Marshallese Islanders thought to be safe, received substantial exposure before evacuated. Fishing within the expanded fall out area, 23 members of the Japanese fishing vessel, the Lucky Dragon, were dusted with a strange white ash for nearly three hours. The crew returned home, traveling for two weeks with it on board, arriving sick with radiation poisoning,

a national outrage began. Sadly, on September 23rd, Kroenai -Kichiku Miyama died of complications. His funeral was attended by over 400 ,000 people. Later, over 30 million Japanese, almost one -third of the entire population, signed a petition to ban nuclear weapons testing. The Lucky Dragon was enshrined in a Tokyo park. In the park, a stone monument is inscribed with, could we young as last words? They read, please make sure that I am the last victim of the bomb. I'm not very sympathetic toward them today, even. I had a lot of my classmates who were killed in a Pacific theater. And of course,

the war department during that time showed some of the atrocities that the Japanese had committed. They didn't play by the rules. And so whatever I've always resented this Hiroshima business that they celebrate every year. But this is 10 years later. This is a... Doesn't matter to me. I'm Irish. I don't forgive or forget. Initially, individuals including Linus Pauling, Bertrand Russell, Norman Cousins, and citizen organizations were considered by the administration to be the dooms of communist agents. The door to the White House was close to them. A .E .C. Chairman Louis Strauss, later believed otherwise, yet still considered dissenters to be hypocrites and naive. Soon public concern became critical. Fears of radioactivity poisoning the

atmosphere were widespread, and several defense held little public confidence. In 1960 in New York City, a group of mothers took charge of the protests against nuclear testing in City Hall Park. And some 1 ,000 turned out that year, wheeling baby carriages and protesting against nuclear testing and refusing to take shelter. This proved to be the largest civil disobedience action in American history up to that time. The following year, some 2 ,500 turned out for the demonstration. Even though we stumbled and fell and what have you, early on, by the time we got an operational capability, we were ahead of them. We had much better accuracy. Didn't have the throw weight and quite the yield that they had opted for, but it didn't matter. I mean, you can only

kill a city so dead. With Russia wielding the H bomb, there was no holding back. From 1955 through 1958, a stable U .S. nuclear weapons infrastructure pushed aggressively ahead. About every way that we could weaponize the nuclear device that could then be converted into a nuclear weapon was tried. It was very

scary. I mean, the buildup certainly went to numbers that were absurdly higher than it was necessary for deterrence. Because the Soviets were turning out missiles like sausages is cruise chief bluffed. Eisenhower worried the U .S fell behind the Soviets in missile technology. A missile -gap mentality spurred on a tremendous effort in missile delivery systems, along with developing compact, light, spherical, implosion devices. Operation Red Wings decoded device weighed only 1 ,797 pounds and delivered a 1 .1 megaton punch. Emphasis also turned to defensive warheads for air to air and ground to air missiles. Weapons designers were perfecting their art. In the ultimate application that is an intercontinental ballistic missile, you're only like 30 minutes from anywhere in the world. So you've got the element of surprise. If

for some reason that you didn't want to continue the war, bombers could be called back. That was an advantage for aircraft, but a disadvantage for the missiles. I mean, once you launched them, you were committed. By 1957, U .S. nuclear weapons facilities operated at peak efficiency. With a moratorium being discussed, weapons labs rushed as many devices as possible to the test range. Operation Plumbab performed 30 component -related tests in Nevada. Operation Heart Tech 1 held 35 tests in the Pacific to develop missiles to strike deep into the heart of Russia. Tests centered on intercontinental ballistic missile and submarine

-launched ballistic missile warheads and high altitude multi -megaton tests to study anti -ballistic missile defenses. The UCRL Juniper Device of the W -47 Polaris Warhead was a design breakthrough. A 65 -kiloton yield was produced from a device measuring a diameter of 14 inches, a length of 15 inches, and weighed only 165 pounds. In Nevada, Heart Tech 2 performed 37 low -yield component tests held underground to reduce fallout. In a second term, Eisenhower sought to gain control of the U .S. build -up. In 1970, York wrote about the struggle Eisenhower faced, trying to alter the course of an apparent race to oblivion. York said, the hard -sell technologists invented the term missile gap, and they embellished that simple phrase with our Nate horror stories

about imminent threats to our very existence as a nation. They then promptly offered a 2001 technical delight. Anyone who did not immediately agree with their assessments of the situation and who failed to recognize the necessity of proceeding forth with on the development and production of their solutions was said to be unable to understand the situation and tried to put the budget ahead of survival. It seemed as if the pursuit of expensive and complicated technology as an ending in itself might very well become an accepted part of America's way of life. During the Tess Moratorium at the end of the Eisenhower administration, we were talking about whether or not the Russians were cheating, and I said in my judgment, there's no evidence that the Russians were testing. John McCone says, that's treason. Every one of the national leaders at Simport woke up

inside himself. We can't use these things. If you track the defense budgets over the Cold War for both the Russian side and our side, you will see that they for for nuclear weapons. You'll see that they go up and down, not in coordination with conflict and confrontation, but in coordination with pump priming. With economic policy, with putting some bucks into the economy so people have jobs. So they knew, and I think that's very serious because they risked our lives. Eisenhower and Khrushchev made on -again, off -again commitments to a moratorium on testing, creating a real optimism to both sides. Eisenhower invited Khrushchev to the U .S. Arriving in September 1959, the visit was a success. Eisenhower promised a visit to Russia after

the Paris summit in June of next year. There were no real hopes of the U .S. and Soviet signing a treaty that would ban testing. On May 1, 1960, Gary powers you to spy plane with shot down over Russia, Khrushchev demanded an apology. Eisenhower had none to give. The summit failed. The visit canceled. The thought evaporated. The Cold War advanced. First traded, Khrushchev thought the U .S. only understood strength. He ended the moratorium with an unprecedented test series, including a colossal 50 megaton bomb. JFK inherited the failed Eisenhower -Khrushchev negotiations, and reluctantly responded with Operation Nuget. Due to fallout, 32 low -yield tests were held mostly underground in Nevada.

Operation Dominic in Fishbowl included 36 high altitude, high -yield tests in the Pacific. The war missiles were detonated at high altitudes to evaluate high -yield explosions against incoming ballistic missiles. In Nevada, 56 tests of Operation Storex were rapidly conducted and included the last U .S. above ground tests. The people of Hiroshima were astounded by the eagerness of both countries, creating and testing more and more weapons. Hiroshima Mayor Hamayy wrote both leaders for an end to the escalation, fearing the worst. That particular time was a damn crazy time.

During the NATO years, we had our weapons. On German aircraft, Dutch aircraft, British aircraft, Italian aircraft, everybody was in the act. Russia was surrounded. Then we of course put in the secretly placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, seeking balance. He thought, quote, it was high time the Americans learned what it felt like to have her own land and her own people threatened, end quote. Within 1 ,100 mile range, the missiles could reach 92 million Americans. Estimates showed that more than half would die. Anguishes

to the next step, President Kennedy fought a unanimous joint chiefs, bent on a military strike. A step he felt could plunge the world into a nuclear nightmare. Kennedy set up a naval blockade. 1 ,400 nuclear bombers went on 24 hour alert and troops were ready. For 13 days, the world was on the edge of the unthinkable. Kennedy proposed a secret deal to Chris Jeff. The U .S. would not invade Cuba at any time and would quietly remove missiles from Turkey. The tension was unbearable. Chris Jeff was reduced to basic instincts. He trusted Kennedy and removed the missiles. Chris Jeff grandstanded saying, in order to save the world, we must retreat. Even at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union did not go

to full nuclear alert. Knowing that Curtis LeMay had everything we had in the air ready to drop it on his country if they so much as squeaked. So good nerves. Good nerves at the height of the crisis when he was willing to suffer humiliation and eventually lose his position in power by retreating rather than risking nuclear war. We had good leaders on both sides during that crisis. But history and our own conscience will judge us harshly if we do not now make every effort to test our hopes by action. And this is the place to begin. My fellow Americans, let us take that first step. Let us, if we can, step back from the shatters of war and seek out the way of peace. And if that journey is a thousand miles or even more, let history record

that we in this land at this time took the first step. The evolving weapon, national defense strategies, public opinion, the complex and unorthodox equation for peace was coming together. After having the world on the edge of nuclear armageddon, a test band treaty was finalized in Moscow on August 5, 1963, quote, of unlimited duration, end quote. It banned testing in the atmosphere, underwater and in outer space. It's origins lay in the great concern that radioactive fallout was poisoning earth. The treaty did not ban underground testing. I got to look at their SS -25s and their SS -20s, which are both mobile missiles. I tell you, they're horrible. There's no way we can stop or control those. It was a real

breakthrough. It had never been any respite from this notion that one's nation was more secure if one developed more nuclear weapons and more dangerous nuclear weapons. And now, finally, there was a breakthrough toward arms control and toward peace. Honored with the AEC's Enrico Fermi Award, J. Robert Oppenheimer was still denied a security clearance. Receiving me award by newly appointed President Johnson, he responded, I think it is just possible, Mr. President, that it has taken some charity and some courage for you to make this award today. That would seem to me a good augury for all our futures. Oppenheimer soon died of cancer. Those close to him say he died of a broken heart. The basic dilemma of the 50s and 60s was that we were building up our

power, our ability to project power and force and to do harm to others was steadily increasing, and yet our national security was steadily decreasing, as measured by the simple fact that other people were able to do greater damage to us year by year, greater and greater. I was one of a group of people who became convinced that there was no technical solution. I reached that conclusion on my own. I wasn't the only one who reached it, and I still feel the same. That's the fundamental problem with national missile defense. It's not that there's anything morally reprehensible about trying to defend yourself. In fact, if we really knew how to do it, I would support the idea. But it's reaching for a technical solution to a what is really a political problem. I think the nuclear weapons have prevented war between the major powers. There's no question that with the formation of NATO, the backbone of NATO in the early days was

our nuclear weapons in Europe, and that stopped the Soviet aggression, which if it had continued, somebody was going to have to stand up, and there would have been a conventional war again. Well, the actions of all these presidents, the way in which they were successfully able to live with the dilemma without having to actually resolve it, because they couldn't resolve it. It has brought us time, and if we're wise enough, we will use it to find a permanent solution. War really had been possible because of a kind of prejudice. They believed that there was a limited amount of energy in the world to turn into high explosives, and that you could accumulate more than your neighbor and therefore prevail. With the discovery of how to release essentially unlimited energy, matter as all energy, that changed the equation. So the prejudice, to call it that, that it was possible to prevail in war, was no longer true, was no longer possible to prevail in war,

and that changed everything. After all, our common purpose should be, as always, a justice, universal and enduring peace. We kept on getting instructions to keep building this thing, and then this thing, and then this thing. Eventually, the answer was, hey, we've kept something bad from happening for many years, but none of us ever expected it would be that long. We've done our job. We've maintained the peace for a long time. I don't know what's going to work. I'm 80 now, so it's up to you to counter -extra -figure that.