us navy heavy bombers in the cold war pacific

Truman himself presided over the initial creation of an atomic weapons stockpile that reached 720 bombs in his last year in office. That the bomb has not been used in anger since August 1945 is a boon but the further development of nuclear weapons since then and their increase and dispersal created dangers far beyond what Truman could have conceived at the dawn of the atomic age. No one could know how the new weapon would shape the political landscape at home and abroad although President Harry S Truman declared that “atomic power can become a powerful and forceful influence towards the maintenance of world peace.” Truman may have been right to hope that the bomb would help prevent world wars but any hope that the bomb would bring greater security to the world would prove mistaken. The United States and the world had entered the atomic age at the moment of the secret test of an atomic device in New Mexico on 16 July 1945.

The 75 th anniversary of the dropping of atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is approaching. * * * A Short Documentary History of U.S. At a future date, we will publish an assortment of additional materials in an annex to this posting.

We welcome nominations – feel free to submit to the address above. No doubt many readers will have their own ideas for what to include. The aim is to encourage broad discussion of the many facets of nuclear history grounded in direct evidence. nuclear policy during the crucial first four decades. Washington, D.C., – Seventy-five years after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki marked the start of the atomic era, questions about the value, danger, and morality of nuclear weapons continue to present a huge challenge for politicians, military strategists, and ordinary citizens.Īs that freighted anniversary approaches, the National Security Archive’s Nuclear Vault has gathered a selection of primary sources that could be considered key to understanding the arc of U.S. FOIA Advisory Committee Oversight Reports.

Us navy heavy bombers in the cold war pacific