Threat of terrorism
Lewis Strauss, chair of the Atomic Energy Commission, complained in 1953 that the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists "has not been objective," a critique he repeated throughout the decade. threat of terrorism Tips in the event of a terrorist attack. In the mid-1950s, the AEC sought to destroy the credibility of journalist Ralph Lapp, particularly after he wrote a book about the Lucky Dragon, the Japanese fishing vessel that had been showered with fallout after a nuclear test. So, too, was there resistance in the Soviet Union to the effort to control nuclear weapons. In 1954, Soviet Premier Georgi Malenkov argued publicly that nuclear war "would mean the destruction of world civilization," and even though he publicly recanted such a heretical statement the next month, he soon found himself demoted. threat of terrorism Terrorism awareness training. The disarmament movement was clearly a worldwide effort, and Wittner pays attention to events in all parts of the globe. He notes, for example, antinuclear sentiment in Ghana, newly independent in 1957, and describes protests coordinated by the national leader Kwame Nkrumah there, and in other African nations, against French nuclear tests. Only Latin America, he observes, showed little concern about the nuclear arms race. threat of terrorism Effects-of-terrorism. Small details contribute to the larger argument. In a chapter that includes the story of resistance efforts in the United States, Wittner describes the reception, in 1957, of Nevil Shute's grim novel On the Beach, which recounted the story of how a nuclear war and the fallout that followed wiped out virtually all life on earth. As 100,000 copies of the book were sold in the first six weeks and newspapers with a circulation of eight million began to serialize it, the Atomic Energy Commission told the White House that it had drafted a form letter to respond to frightened inquiries about the "real" prospects of destruction. In a chapter dealing with the Soviet Union, Wittner notes the common perception, similar to that in the United States, that civil defense would never work. To underscore his argument, he cites a joke common in the Soviet Union in the 1960s:"Q. : What should you do in case of a nuclear attack?"A. : Get a shovel and a sheet, and walk slowly . . . to the nearest cemetery. "Q. : Why slowly?"A. : You mustn't start a panic. "Wittner is particularly good at recounting the effort that culminated in an atmospheric test ban treaty. At the beginning of a chapter on the agreement, he notes that in 1963, "Public policy showed dramatic signs of catching up with the anti-nuclear movement," and he highlights the contribution of Norman Cousins, editor of the Saturday Review, in transmitting messages back and forth between the Soviet Union and the United States. Wittner argues that President John F. Kennedy's speech at American University in June 1963, when he declared that in the nuclear age, "Total war makes no sense" made a difference, and led to the breakthrough that resulted in the agreement to ban above-ground tests. Although the antinuclear movement never succeeded fully in banning the bomb, it did bring about a number of important measures in the 1960s, and Wittner outlines these. Besides the atmospheric test ban treaty, they included a nuclear nonproliferation treaty, treaties outlawing nuclear weapons from both the seabed and outer space, and a variety of other initiatives that eventually led to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks of subsequent years. A thoughtful concluding chapter summarizes Wittner's argument nicely.
Threat of terrorism
Domestic || Terrorism-pics || Quotes-on-terrorism || Terrorism-in-ireland