CWA 2.5 The President s Daily Bulletin (Nuclear Arms Race) Timeline

Transcription

1 Timeline 1942 US begins work on the Manhattan Project, a research and development effort that produced the first atomic bombs. As the project moves forward, Soviet spies secretly report on its developments to Moscow. Summer, 1945 On July 16, the US detonates the first nuclear device at the Trinity test site in New Mexico. On July 24, Truman officially briefs Stalin on the development project at the Potsdam Conference. The US drops two atomic weapons on Japan to end WWII. Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6; Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki on August At its first General Assembly meeting in January, the United Nations forms the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission, whose stated goal was the elimination of all nuclear weapons. o In response, the US proposes the Baruch Plan, which advocated for an international body to provide oversight. The USSR calls for universal disarmament. Both proposals were rejected by the UN. In the summer of 1946, the US government tests two more bombs in the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific On August 29, the Soviet Union detonates its first atomic weapon, called RDS-1 by the Soviets, and both Fast Lightning and Joe-1 ( after Joseph Stalin) by the West Emil Fuchs was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. Fuchs confessed and was sentenced to fourteen years in prison. Fuchs was a German theoretical physicist who became a British citizen during WWII. After the war, Fuchs worked on the Manhattan Project in New Mexico and passed information about the development of the hydrogen bomb onto the Soviet Union. Harry Gold was also convicted as a Soviet spy Gold served as a courier for Fuchs, helping transport information from the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union On November 1, the US detonated Mike, the first hydrogen bomb. Page 26

2 Timeline (continued) 1953 Soviets detonate their first thermonuclear bomb that could be dropped from an airplane On March 1, the US conducts the BRAVO test of a hydrogen bomb, again at Bikini Atoll. The largest nuclear explosion yet by the US, the bomb yielded 14.8 megatons of destruction, which spread nuclear fallout up to 300 miles away The USSR detonates its first hydrogen bomb on November 22 with a 1.6 megaton yield. By 1961, the Soviets hydrogen bombs had a 58 megaton yield The USSR launches Sputnik, a satellite, into Earth s orbit. Development of this technology demonstrated that the Soviet Union could not only utilize air bombers to deliver nuclear weapons they could launch them across continents. In response, the US launches its own satellite in By the late-1950s, both the US and the USSR had the capability of not only launching a first strike against each other, both could also survive a first strike and launch a response, known as a second strike. This knowledge provided a sense of security and deterrence for the two superpowers. Known as Mutually Assured Destruction, or MAD, both sides were reluctant to attack the other because they knew that their opponent could still surmount a second strike, which would lead to their annihilation. MAD spurred on the arms race as each side sought to maintain equal or greater capacity for destruction, and thus assured, paradoxically, their own safety In October, the US and the Soviet Union came closest to nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Soviet Union sought to secretly place nuclear missiles on Cuban soil, capable of quickly reaching the territorial United States. President Kennedy responded by blockading Soviet ships sailing to complete the final installation. As tensions mounted during the crisis, Kennedy increased military alertness to DEFCON 3, the level just before nuclear war. Thankfully, back door negotiations ended the crisis. The Soviets agreed to remove the missiles and their bases from Cuba. In response, the US removed their missiles from Turkey, which threatened the Soviet Union. Page 27

3 Second atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, August 8, Official US Army Air Force photograph. Source: Library of Congress, Page 28

4 Mushroom cloud with ships below during Operation Crossroads nuclear weapons test on Bikini Atoll, July, Source: Library of Congress, Page 29

5 Little Denise Davidson, 5 months old, sleeps peacefully while her mother, Mrs. Donald Davidson, of 278 Clinton St., Bklyn., marches with ban-the-bomb group outside the United Nations to protest resumption of A-[bomb] tests by the United States / World Telegram & Sun photo by Dick DeMarsico, Source: Library of Congress, Page 30

6 Persons picketing against the use of tax dollars for the development of nuclear weapons] / World-Telegram photo by Fred Palumbo, March 15, Source: Library of Congress, Page 31

7 Truman's handwriting on the back of a Potsdam photograph describing telling Stalin about the atomic bomb: "In which I tell Stalin we expect to drop the most powerful explosive ever made on the Japanese. He smiled and said he appreciated my telling him--but he did not know what I was talking about--the Atomic Bomb! HST" Source: Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Accession # A, Page 32

8 Scientists Petition to the President of the United States, July 17, Source: Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, 17&documentid=79&studycollectionid=abomb&pagenumber=1. Page 33

9 CWA 2.5 The President s Daily Bulletin (Nuclear Arms Race, White House Release) Press Release by the White House, August 6, Source: Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, ntid=59&documentdate= &studycollectionid=abomb&groupid=. Page 34

10 CWA 2.5 The President s Daily Bulletin (Nuclear Arms Race, White House Release) Page 35

11 CWA 2.5 The President s Daily Bulletin (Nuclear Arms Race, Evaluation of Atomic Bomb) Editor s Note: The following document is an excerpt from, Evaluation of the Atomic Bomb as a Military Weapon, was a June 30, 1947 report by the Joint Chiefs of Staff Evaluation Board for Operation Crossroads, the name of the Bikini Atoll tests. The report was prepared for President Truman and is part of the President s Secretary Collection at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, mentdate= &documentid=81&studycollectionid=abomb. Page 36

12 CWA 2.5 The President s Daily Bulletin (Nuclear Arms Race, Evaluation of Atomic Bomb) Page 37

13 CWA 2.5 The President s Daily Bulletin (Nuclear Arms Race, Evaluation of Atomic Bomb) Page 38

14 CWA 2.5 The President s Daily Bulletin (Nuclear Arms Race, Evaluation of Atomic Bomb) Page 39

15 CWA 2.5 The President s Daily Bulletin (Nuclear Arms Race, Reaction to Sputnik) Reaction to the Soviet Satelllite (Sputnik) A Preliminary Evaluation, White House Office of the Staff Research Group, Box 35, Special Projects: Sputnik, Missiles and Related Matters. Source: Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, Page 40

16 CWA 2.5 The President s Daily Bulletin (Nuclear Arms Race, Reaction to Sputnik) Page 41

17 Director of Central Intelligence R.H. Hillenkoetter, memorandum to the President, "Estimate of the Status of the Russian Atomic Energy Project," 6 July 1948, Top Secret. Source: Harry S. Truman Library, Presidents Secretary's File, box 249, Central Intelligence-Memoranda (copy courtesy of Jeffrey Richelson). Online access: National Security Archive at George Washington University: Page 42