1948 – truman elected the ussr joins the “nuclear club” august 1949
TRANSCRIPT
1948 – Truman Elected
The USSR joins the “Nuclear
Club”
August 1949
ARMS RACE
1st Hydrogen Bomb (H-bomb)
“ ”1952
Tested on coral island (Bikini Atoll) in Pacific
Mike fireball seconds after detonation
1/2 hour after test...
60 mls45,000 ft.
Election 1952 – Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes President
March ‘53: Stalin dies
Nikita Khrushchev
becomes next Soviet
leader
Focus on air power & nukes instead of
costly ground troops & navies
A smaller army & navy required new way of fighting communism
Ike consults with John
Foster Dulles
Sec of State
Dulles proposes
policy of...
If Soviets launch nuke at any nation the US would respond with one at them!
Idea: Make Soviets think
twice
This leads the 2 superpowers to...
Push enemy to brink of war
Not backing down from a conflict
Nukes or nothing!
1953: Soviets create H-Bomb
No US advantage!
Remember me?
Robert J. Oppenheimer
Here is my
analogy of the
situation
Mutually Assured
Destruction
Country has enough bombs to insure that
she can destroy enemy
even if they have more
bombs!
Game Game OverOver
There is NO winner…There is NO winner…everyone loses!everyone loses!
Do you realize the impact of
this?
We wage peace the same way we wage war...
show strength...take risks...make enemy think you will attack
H-bomb nicknamed Bravo detonated by U.S. in South Pacific
March 1, 1954
Bikini Atoll (again) contaminated with
radiation
Bravo explosion
Bravo hydrogen bomb crater now
Japanese fishing boat 80
miles away covered in radioactive
ash (fallout)
Also, all fishermen got radiation poisoning!
People realized they could be
harmed by nukes (& TESTS) even from far away
Fallout shelters in the backyard?
Many public buildings became
designated fallout
shelters
Ike’s “open skies” ideaBoth nations would inspect each other’s military sites from airPlan died but at least
they were talking
1954
Sputnik: ‘57
Americans freaked (arms race = higher gear)
Small satellite
launched by USSR
Why did Sputnik cause such a panic?
1- Showed Soviets were ahead in the arms race
2-Soviets smarter than us?
3-If they can launch
this…?
What did we do about it?
US launched new education
initiative stressing math
& science
Federal $$$ went to education in hopes we would train our kids & keep up with
Soviets
ICBM: Inter-
Continental Ballistic Missile
50’s: BOTH SIDES MAKE: