The American Atom

Philip L. Cantelon is President of History Associates, Inc. Richard G. Hewlett is Senior Vice President of History Associates, Inc., and former chief historian of the Atomic Energy Commission. Robert C. Williams is Professor of History, Dean of the Faculty, and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Davidson College.

Introduction

I THE NUCLEAR AGE: BACKGROUND AND VISIONS

1. Nuclear Energy: H. G. Wells's Vision, 1914

2. Leo Szilard and the Discovery of Fission

3. The Szilard-Einstein Letter, August 2, 1939

4. The Frisch-Peierls Memorandum, 1940

5. The MAUD Report, 1941

II THE MANHATTAN PROJECT

6. Letters of J. Robert Oppenheimer, 1942-45

7. The Quebec Agreement, August 19, 1943

8. Anglo-American Declaration of Trust, June 13, 1944

9. Roosevelt-Churchill Hyde Park Aide-Memoire, September 19, 1944

10. O. R. Frisch, Eyewitness Account of "Trinity" Test, July 1945

11. General Groves's Report on "Trinity," July 18, 1945

12. Truman-Stalin Conversation, Potsdam, July 24, 1945

13. Military Policy Committee Minutes, May 5, 1943

14. Stimson and the Interim Committee, May 1945

15. Interim Committee Minutes, May 31, 1945

16. Science Panel: Recommendations on the Immediate Use of Nuclear Weapons, June 16, 1945

17. Stimson and the Scientists' Concerns, June 26, 1945

18. Chicago Scientists' Petition to the President, July 17, 1945

19. White House Press Release on Hiroshima, August 6, 1945

III ATOMIC ENERGY IN A POSTWAR WORLD

20. Henry Stimson to Harry S. Truman, September 11, 1945

21. The McMahon Bill, December 20, 1945 (Atomic Energy Act of 1946)

22. The Baruch Plan

23. "What Is the Atom's Industrial Future?" March 8, 1947

24. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's ''Atoms for Peace" Address to the United Nations General Assembly

25. Excerpts from President Eisenhower's Press Conference, March 31, 1954

IV THE HYDROGEN BOMB

26. "Political Implications of Detonation of Atomic Bomb by the U.S.S.R.," Department of State, Policy Planning Staff PPS/58, August 16, 1949

27. Statement by the President on Announcing the First Atomic Explosion in the USSR, September 23, 1949

28. USAEC General Advisory Committee Minutes, October 28-30, 1949

29. USAEC General Advisory Committee Report on the "Super," October 30, 1949

30. Lewis Strauss to Harry S. Truman, November 25, 1949

31. Statement by the President on the Hydrogen Bomb, January 31, 1950

32. Hans Bethe, Comments on the History of the H-bomb, 1954

V THE OPPENHEIMER CASE

33. K. D. Nichols, General Manager, AEC, to J. R. Oppenheimer, December 23, 1953

34. J. R. Oppenheimer to K. D. Nichols, March 4, 1954

35. Testimony in the Matter of J, Robert Oppenheimer

36, Findings on the Case of J. Robert Oppenheimer: K. D. Nichols to the USAEC, June 12, 1954

37. Arthur Holly Compton to Gordon Gray, April 21, 1954, "Evidence Regarding Loyalty of Robert Oppenheimer

VI NUCLEAR TESTING AND THE TEST BAN

38. Announced Nuclear Tests, 1945-52

39. Reported Nuclear Test Explosions, 1945-68

40. "Civil Defense Faces New Perils," Ralph E. Lapp, 1954

41. Atomic Energy Commission Meeting 1376, May 21, 1958

42. Atomic Energy Commission Meeting 1377, May 28, 1958

43. W. K. Wyant, Jr., ''50,000 Baby Teeth," The Nation, June 13, 1959

44. Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space, and Under Water, August 5, 1963

45. Treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Weapon Tests, July 3, 1974

46. Protocol to the Treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Reepublics on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Weapon Tests, July 3, 1937

VII DETERRENCE

47. Bernard Brodie, The Absolute Weapon, 1946

48. John Foster Dulles on "Massive Retaliation," 1954

49. Herman Kahn, On Thermonuclear War, 1960

50. Robert McNamara and Counterforce "No Cities" Doctrine, 1962

51. Presidential Directive 59, 1980

52. President Ronald Reagan on Deterrence, November 23, 1982

VI ARMS CONTROL

53. "Broken Arrows": Nuclear Weapons Accidents, 1950-68

54. White House Statement on the Soviet Missile Sites in Cuba, October 26, 1962

55, White House Statement on Soviet Proposals Relating to International Security, October 27, 1962

56. Message to Chairman Khrushchev Calling for Removal of Soviet Missiles From Cuba, October 27, 1962

57. Message in Reply to a Broadcast by Chairman Khrushchev on the Cuban Crisis, October 28, 1962

58. Statement by the President Following the Soviet Decision to Withdraw Missiles from Cuba, October 28, 1952

59. Memorandum of Understanding between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Regarding the Establishment of a Direct Communications Link, June 20, 1963 (with Annex)

60. Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, March 5, 1970

61. Treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the L...

62. Interim Agreement between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republi...

63. USA-USSR Agreement to Reduce the Risk of Nuclear War Outbreak, September 30, 1972

64. Protocol to the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Re...

65. Salt II Treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ...

66. U.S. Bishops' Pastoral Letter on War and Peace: A Summary

67. William P. Clark, National Security Council, to Archbishop Joseph L. Bernadin, Chairman of the N...

IX NUCLEAR POWER

68. Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (selections)

69. Report of the AEC Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards on the Fermi Nuclear Power Plant, 195...

70. AFL-CIO Statement on Fermi, 1956

71. Preliminary Report on Fuel Damage in Fermi Reactor, 1966

72. Calved Cliffs Coordinating Committee versus U.S. Atomic Energy Committee, 1971

73. Three Mile Island; Nuclear News Special Report, April 6, 1979

X Afterword

Index