On 5 April, President Barack Obama delivered an eyebrow-raising speech in the beautiful city of Prague. In a dramatic departure from his last two predecessors, Obama virtually declared the existence of nuclear weapons an historical travesty and pledged to lead diplomatic negotiations to reduce arsenals around the world. He also stated his intention to enforce and expand the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in order to forestall potential threats from state and non-state actors (i.e. Al-Qaeda)..
His laudable aspirations to minimize the risks of nuclear war or accident will encounter several roadblocks. Several key nations with nuclear weapons were not signatories to NPT in 1968 and still have no intention of signing on the dotted line today. Among them are Pakistan, India, Israel (who officially denies its nuclear capability) and the rogue regime of North Korea. Indeed, the complex politics of nuclear weapons in the early 21st century hearkens back to the volatile Cold War era of the 1950s. From 1945-55, the advancement of science in devising weapons of mass destruction greatly surpassed the ability of man to rationalize their existence and use. Fortunately, an unexpected event on 1 March 1954 forced the world to take a step back from annihilation.
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During one period of the Korean War (1950-53), several high-level government officials and military commanders, including Douglas MacArthur, strongly considered or advocated the deployment of nuclear weapons for 'tactical' use on the battlefield. MacArthur had brilliantly outmaneuvered his North Korean adversary by landing behind enemy lines at Incheon. When waves of Chinese soldiers entered the war to drive the Americans away from the North Korean-Chinese border, however, policymakers realized that nothing could stop the Chinese advance short of a series of devastating nuclear strikes. Fortunately, President Eisenhower ruled out the nuclear option, and the war ended in a stalemate that exists to this very day.
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A year after hostilities ended on the Korean peninsula, a test of a 'super' bomb was scheduled for the first day of March. Because the Soviet Union had achieved parity with their own nuclear weapons capability, the United States had decided to forge ahead with an even more powerful device than the 'Atom' bomb. Projected to be five times greater in destructive capability, the 'Hydrogen' bomb was set to be tested in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in an operation termed BRAVO. Rather than an expected five megaton blast, however, its explosive power measured at fifteen megatons and resulted in the death of a Japanese fisherman and significant environmental damage. The event sent shock waves through Washington, London and Moscow. Man had truly created a 'Frankenstein', and he was out of control.
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After BRAVO, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Head of State Georgii Malenkov (one of the successors to Stalin), both came to the conclusion that the use nuclear bombs transcended conventional weaponry and warfare. Since a nuclear war would mean the end of civilization itself, a nuclear quid pro quo had resulted. As no state could use nuclear weapons without inviting annihilation, they would likely never be used, and nations would continue fighting wars with conventional weapons. Churchill was the first to recognize the 'benefits' of what would come to be called 'Mutually Assured Destruction' or MAD.
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Some in the US government, however, still harbored ideas of incorporating the nuclear option into warfare. Despite his restraint in the Korean War and knowledge of the BRAVO outcome, Eisenhower stated in 1955, 'in any combat these things (nuclear bombs) can be used on strictly military targets and for strictly military purposes, I can see no reason why they should not be used as you would a bullet or anything else.' (Gaddis, p.64 - see below) More than likely, the President was making an off-the-cuff remark based on wish-fulfillment rather than reality. A year later, Eisenhower was often heard to remark on the infeasibility of nuclear warfare.
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Henry Kissinger, then a rising Harvard-graduated star in the State Department, was another story altogether. In his book Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy, Kissinger argued that the nuclear option was feasible in warfare and ought to be retained to protect American interests. While outlined in trenchant academic analysis, the future National Security Advisor and Secretary of State under Richard Nixon could not furnish a satisfactory answer to the ultimate question: 'How could the use of nuclear weapons protect American interests if they were bound to provoke a massive nuclear response from China or the Soviet Union upon civilian populations in American cities?'
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In August 1945, more than 200,000 innocent civilians died from the US nuclear attacks at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hundreds of thousands more had their life-spans shortened by radiation poisoning. The question of whether Truman was justified in unleashing the destructive power of nuclear physics will be debated for years to come, but no rational person wants history to witness another similar event. Hence, the debate on nuclear weapons has long been over. Not only should they be outlawed from use in warfare, but their existence should be limited as much as possible.
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For that reason, the reduction of nuclear stockpiles and the containment of nuclear technology must be a first priority of not only the Obama administration but of every government.
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(Picture: the mushroom cloud created from BRAVO on 1 March, 1954)
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To view an Eisenhower White House public relations film on the American way of life and the hydrogen bomb, click the picture to the right
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Recommended Reading
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Gaddis, John Lewis. The Cold War: A New History. Penguin Press, 2007.
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J Roquen