Eisenhower's Atoms For Peace

On July 16 1945 the United States set off the worlds first atomic explosion.In his Atoms for Peace speech of 1953 President Dwight D. Eisenhowercaptured the ten... » 

On July 16 1945 the United States set off the worlds first atomic explosion.In his Atoms for Peace speech of 1953 President Dwight D. Eisenhowercaptured the tensions and the ironies of the atomic age. While nucleardevastation threatened all nations Eisenhower believed only nuclearpreparedness offered protection while nuclear weapons loomed as the ultimatewar cloud nuclear power offered progress and hope.In this consideration of Eisenhowers speech and others leading up to it IraChernus views the Atoms for Peace speech presented to the General Assemblyof the United Nations not merely as a legitimation of American foreign policybut as itself an act of policy. Indeed he frames the policy in a newinterpretation of Eisenhowers broad discursive goal which he callsapocalypse management a plan to allow the United States to manage threatsand crises around the world. The full text of Eisenhowers speech is presentedin this volume.Chernus sheds new light on the internal consistency of Eisenhowers thoughtwhich many observers have found inconsistent as well as on the ways in whichthe presidents rhetoric backed him into a policy corner he had not intended tooccupy. Chernus also reviews the domestic impact of the speech through adetailed examination of media interpretations in the United States.This tightly reasoned clearly written study offers a new understanding of theevolution of Cold War nuclear policy the power of presidential rhetoric andthe political understanding of Americas man of peace Dwight D. Eisenhower. «