American Nuclear Weapons ...
American policy makers in the late 1940s debated the very controversial topic of nuclear weapons testing on American soil. Previously, American policy makers such as Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) head Sumner Pike stated that, "only a national emergency could justify testing in the United States" (Ball 27-28). As the Soviet Union and communism expanded half a world away, hostilities broke out in Korea, which authorities asserted was a national emergency that would warrant nuclear testing on American soil. Authorities within the AEC believed that in order to maintain nuclear superiority and preserve national security, nuclear tests would have to be conducted in the continental United States. The Nevada Test Site (NTS) was chosen for a few primary reasons: it was a flat area with little rainfall to minimize radioactive fallout, the winds traditionally blew east towards the relatively "uninhabited" portions of Nevada and Utah and away from the heavy population concentrations of the West coast (Cheney 36). Nuclear weapons' testing was essential for national security, yet it was not absolutely necessary for these tests to take place within the continental United
Much of the weapons testing conducted in Nevada didn't pertain to the development or enhancement of the capabilities of the American nuclear arsenal. In a letter to the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, the Military Liaison Committee claimed that, "indoctrination in essential physical protective measures under simulated combat conditions and observations of the psychological effects of an atomic explosion are reasons for this desired participation" in reference to the demand that military troops be allowed on to the Nevada Test Site (Ball 29). The Department of Defense used nuclear weapons tests in Nevada to "train military unites to become familiar with new weapons and their characteristics" (Ball 31). Glenn Cheney adds to this argument by stating that, "The military had two objectives for carrying out the tests: to train the troops to operate during an atomic attack, and to assess their psychological response to a nearby atomic explosion (51). Another goal of the nuclear tests in the late 1950's became to create a "clean" bomb due to increasing public pressure on the effects of radiation (Wasserman 3). This is not to say that new nuclear weapon designs were not tested in Nevada, but a great deal of the nuclear explosions in Nevada were unrelated to weapons development and more to do with military training. The experimental tests of new weapons designs were absolutely necessary in order to maintain superiority over the weapons systems of the Soviet Union. Nuclear weapon designs constantly change and as a result they have to be tested periodically to determine if the scientific calculations behind them are correct (Ball 32). Some of these tests took place in the Marshal Islands, which is where all of the experimental designs that were tested should h
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Approximate Word count = 1198
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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