Nuclear War
Can it be prevented?
This is the 80th anniversary of the Trinity test, the first actual explosion of the atomic weapon. It is what many feel was the beginning of the atomic age. Soon after, as we know, came the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
The anniversary has led to a flurry of publications examining the consequences of this momentous scientific and technical development. The Atlantic, for example, devoted most of its August 2025 issue to the development, titling it “Eighty Yars on the Edge.”
There are several consequential articles in the issue, one of which is reproduced below. It asks the question as to whether the President of the United States should have the sole authority, unfettered by Congress, the courts, or anyone else, to deply the weapon, regardless of the situation at the time. The article describes the several steps the Pentagon takes to make sure it is the President himself (or herself, perhaps someday) who is making the order, but should that be satisfied, the bomb would be used.
The article makes clear that it was Harry Truman, who never doubted the wisdom of bombing Japan, worked to take away the authority over the bomb from the military, because he thought they were too eager to use it again. The day after the bombing of Nagasaki, he declared that no other atomic could be used without his direct order. In 1946 he signed the Atomic Energy Act which codified the President’s authority.
The article goes on to describe several instances where we came close to using the bomb. The article ends with: “The president’s most important job, as the sole steward of America’s nuclear arsenal, is to prevent nuclear war. And a voter’s most important job is to choose the right person for that responsibility.”
Scientists have often been in the forefront of warning about the dangers of nuclear war. The latest example is The Nobel Laureate Assembly Declaration for the Prevention of Nuclear War. Pointing out that “no first use” declarations - which the United States, among others, has refused to make - would great ease the fears of a nuclear way, the statement is powerful. One hopes that people and politicians listen.
This is a complicated issue. There is more to come. Watch out for another newsletter in a week or so.
And let me hear from you. All the best, Alan
Thanks, Alan. This is a very important issue. Thanks for consolidating and compiling.
Alan—sometimes it stuns me that there has not been a nuclear war these 80 years. But the closeness of it. The nearness. No fun these days when it feels closer than ever.