The Arms RaceThe Arms Race

The Race Starts Apace• USA did not share nuclear technology

– August 1945: Hiroshima & Nagasaki hit– 70,000+ killed in each city– Japan surrendered within a week– Both USA & USSR saw A-bombs as

weapons of the future

• And so, the arms race …

The Arms RaceUSA takes the lead USSR takes the lead

Aug ‘49 USSR detonates A-bomb. US concerned. CIA believed USSR would not have tech until 1953. Spies suspected.

1951

US Strategic Air Command (SAC) develops policy of constant readiness. SAC commander Curtis LeMay identifies 6000 targets in USSR to hit in case of war

Nov ‘52 USA detonates 1st hydrogen bomb. H-Bomb is 1000 Xs more powerful than the A-bomb

Aug ‘53 USSR detonates H-bomb

March ‘54 US develops bomber-sized H-bomb Sept ‘54 USSR drops H-bomb from bomber

July ‘56 USA develops U-2 spy plane to spy on Soviet weapons development May ‘57 USSR develops first ICBM

Oct ‘57 USSR launches ‘Sputnik’ into orbit. USA shocked by USSR advances. USSR now has tech to launch guided missiles w/ nuclear bombs @ US cities w/o US having missiles of our own

Jan ‘58 USA launches own satellite

1959 USA develops sophisticated Atlas & Minuteman ICBMs. Polaris sub-launched missiles also developed. US public believes USSR has many more missiles than US but Pres. Ike knows this is not true, doesn’t tell public

April ‘61 Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin first in spaceOct ‘61 Test H-bomb w/ more power than all WWII

Oct 1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis

5 Aug 1963: USA & USSR sign Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in Moscow

Why do you think the USA had missiles based in Europe?

Fact File: The U-2 Crisis– 1950: SAC began spy flights over USSR w/o

Truman’s permission. Truman banned flights because they violated Soviet airspace.

– 1956: Flights renew w/ permission of Pres. Ike. Brand new U-2 spy plane used. Flew too high for Soviet missiles/AA-guns. Sophisticated instruments & cameras installed (could read newspaper on ground from 72,000’).

– Soviet missiles improved (in part due to the Rosenbergs & proximity fuses).

– May 1960 new missile shot down U-2 piloted by Gary Powers. Powers survived, arrested.

– USSR paraded Powers on TV & accused USA of spying. USA first denied, then admitted Powers was spying. Ike refused to apologize & refused to promise no more flights.

– Dramatic down-turn in US-Soviet relations– Gary Powers sentenced to 10 years in Soviet

prison, but exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel in February 1962Kenny Loggins performing Highway To The Danger Zone

What is the Soviet cartoon saying about the U-2?

Explain why the Soviets were so angry about the US spy flights.

How would the USA justify this violation of Soviet territory?

Arms Race: Propaganda & Intelligence• Not just tech race

– Each side wanted to show that the other one was building all the bombs for aggression

– Their own bombs were purely for protection!– Thus the need for propaganda

• US & USSR wanted info on the other– Thus the need for intelligence– USSR tended to use human intelligence

(hum-int or spies), like Rudolph Abel– USA preferred high-tech devices like U-2– Both had their own advantages & dis-

Coldplay … Spies

If the USSR had had U-2 planes, do you think it would have used them? Explain your reasoning

Compare sources A & B. One is from 1949, and the other from 1961. Decide which is which and explain the message of each one.

Two Soviet cartoons. A the text on the bomb-shaped balloon reads ‘US atomic monopoly’. The balloon is burst by a communiqué from the Soviet news agency TASS on 25 September, announcing that the USSR now has the atomic

bomb. B The wheels of the train are labeled NATO, SEATO, & CENTO. The engine is labeled ‘armaments race’. The smoke is labeled ‘anti-Communism’

A B

Deterrence & MAD• 1961: Enough missiles to destroy world

– Theory was that excess weapons made both sides secure

– Nation being attacked would launch counter-strike before first missile fell, so attacking nation would live only 15 minutes longer than nation being attacked

– Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD)

Define the term ‘nuclear deterrent’ in not more than 20 words

Did People Feel Safe?• Leaders liked MAD but people worried

– 1957: Bomber crash in Greenham Common AFB (E) crashed with a bomb near a B-47 with nuclear weapons…burned for 16 hours and released contamination

– 1962: Wisconsin-A “false alarm” went off signifying we were at nuclear war with the soviets, piots boarded and were then called off

– 1965: An A-4E Skyhawk rolled off an elevator on a carrier and sank to 16,000 feet…the H-Bomb was presumed exploded

– 1968: The Nuclear Sub Scorpion was lost at sea….suspected foul play by the USSR came into question…eventually found

• Danger obvious to all– One suicidal leader, one poor decision,

one small or innocent mistake could trigger nuclear Armageddon

• How I Learned to Love the Bomb– Bomb shelters didn’t help people feel

better– Topic of everyday conversation– Some protested dangers, cost– Others felt fearful and hopeless– Was this the last generation?– Would nuclear war signal the world’s end?

Fin

PSDs on the Arms Race• Nuclear warfare is an utter folly, even from the narrowed point of

view of self-interest. To spread ruin, misery and death throughout one’s own country as well as that of the enemy is the act of madmen … The question every human being must ask is ‘can man survive?’– Bertrand Russell, a leading member of Britain’s Campaign for Nuclear

Disarmament (CND)