Following WWII, nuclear politics became a highly-contested topic among the global population. However, there remains much controversy as to which path the world should take regarding nuclear weapons and research. While some were excited for the new technological advances that could come with the utilization of nuclear technology, others feared the risk of improper use of nuclear weapons.
Immediately after the war, nuclear research began and a variety of new technology developed. As a result, a deadly weapon, the hydrogen bomb, was created. The hydrogen bomb was much more powerful than the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first hydrogen bomb test conducted by the United States took place on November 1, 1952 and had a power equal to about 10.4 megatons of TNT - over 1,000 times stronger than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This created a number of fears and questions for many people across the world. What effects will this weapon have on a population? What happens if the Soviets built a hydrogen bomb? And most importantly, how do we survive one? As these questions were answered with different perspectives behind them, sides began to form and nuclear politics was born.
At the end of WWII, the birth of nuclear politics began, a new governmental campaign began in the United States know as "Atoms for Peace". This political campaign started under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who described this campaign in his famous Atoms for Peace speech of 1953 as a way of solving "the fearful atomic dilemma" America was currently facing. During this campaign "Atoms for Peace" buses traveled around the country and provided walk through tours of the bus in order to educate people about the atom and the far-reaching benefits of nuclear technology. Many of these benefits focused around the innovative effects nuclear technology can have on medicine, science, agriculture, and production. However, the fantasies and excitement about what nuclear technology had to offer were about to reach a grinding halt.
In the following years as tensions grew between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, competition over better nuclear technology would arise. This arms race created many fears for the American public as the risk of a nuclear war began to seem more and more likely as each day passed. In the beginning, the public still had little knowledge about the effects of the nuclear bomb and radiation. However, as more information emerged from the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, the general public began to learn the true destructive power of nuclear weapons and the Cold War with the Soviet Union. People realized that if nuclear war broke out, nobody was going to survive. As more people withdrew their support, the Cold War came to a close, leading many to begin to organize and speak out against nuclear weapons and technology. For even though the war had ended, people's fears of radiation and nuclear weapons did not subside.
Due to the current heated political climate between the United States and North Korea, many of these debates and fears about nuclear weapons have sparked again. Some people advocate for more nuclear research to better safeguard our society, and some advocate for the global disarmament of nuclear weapons due to their destructive nature. Today, the threat of nuclear war still looms.
Due to the current heated political climate between the United States and North Korea, many of these debates and fears about nuclear weapons have sparked again. Some people advocate for more nuclear research to better safeguard our society, and some advocate for the global disarmament of nuclear weapons due to their destructive nature. Today, the threat of nuclear war still looms.