American Nuclear Weapons Testing

A detailed Summary of American Nuclear Weapons Testing

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

The American nuclear weapons arsenal prevented the Soviet Union from attacking the United States because of the principle of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). The idea of MAD was a result of years of nuclear weapons testing which kept the American arsenal superior or equal to that of the Soviet Union throughout all of the Cold War. As such, nuclear weapons' testing was indispensable to the national security of the United States during the Cold War. With the previous being said, the United States government caused its citizens harm by allowing them to be exposed to radiation when other viable alternatives such as nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands existed. No conditions should have warranted nuclear weapons testing within the continental United States. The effects of radiation caused thousands of people to die and suffer due to radiation related cancers and diseases which wouldn't have occurred were it not for nuclear testing in Nevada.

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 t

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Approximate Word count = 1198
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Science