Embracing the Bomb: Ethics, Morality, and Nuclear Deterrence in the U.S. Air Force, 1945-1955

Embracing the Bomb: Ethics, Morality, and Nuclear Deterrence in the U.S. Air Force, 1945-1955 PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
For four years, from 1945-1949, the U.S. Air Force was the only institution on the planet responsible for planning nuclear strikes and capable of delivering such a blow. Even in the mid-1950s, the Air Force was still by far the most powerful nuclear force and would be for years. At the same time, an intense moral debate surrounded atomic and nuclear weapons. This paper addresses how leading U.S. Air Force officers viewed nuclear weapons in ethical terms. Specifically, at a time when no one else had to, how and why did professional Air Force officers come to accept planning for, threatening, and training to take millions upon millions of human lives, many of them civilian, with nuclear weapons? The work draws extensively from the manuscript collections and printed primary sources of Air Force generals to show that these men ardently believed they were traveling the road of higher morality.

Embracing the Bomb: Ethics, Morality, and Nuclear Deterrence in the U.S. Air Force, 1945-1955

Embracing the Bomb: Ethics, Morality, and Nuclear Deterrence in the U.S. Air Force, 1945-1955 PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
For four years, from 1945-1949, the U.S. Air Force was the only institution on the planet responsible for planning nuclear strikes and capable of delivering such a blow. Even in the mid-1950s, the Air Force was still by far the most powerful nuclear force and would be for years. At the same time, an intense moral debate surrounded atomic and nuclear weapons. This paper addresses how leading U.S. Air Force officers viewed nuclear weapons in ethical terms. Specifically, at a time when no one else had to, how and why did professional Air Force officers come to accept planning for, threatening, and training to take millions upon millions of human lives, many of them civilian, with nuclear weapons? The work draws extensively from the manuscript collections and printed primary sources of Air Force generals to show that these men ardently believed they were traveling the road of higher morality.

Embracing the Bomb

Embracing the Bomb PDF Author: Bret J. Cillessen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Military ethics
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description


The Bomb

The Bomb PDF Author: Beatrice Heuser
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317886798
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
This tightly argued and profoundly thought provoking book tackles a huge subject: the coming of the nuclear age with bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, and the ways in which it has changed our lives since. Dr Heuser sets these events in their historical context and tackles key issues about the effect of nuclear weapons on modern attitudes to conflict, and on the ethics of warfare. Ducking nothing, she demystifies the subject, seeing `the bomb' not as something unique and paralysing, but as an integral part of the strategic and moral context of our time. For a wide multidisciplinary and general readership.

Morality and the Bomb

Morality and the Bomb PDF Author: David Fisher
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000047547
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
Originally published in 1985, this book surveys how NATO policy sought to come to terms with the revolution in thinking about war which was brought about by the advent of nuclear weapons. It also examines the logic of deterrence. The book assesses the ethical issues involved, using as a framework the tradition of the idea of the Just War. A detailed modern version of the theory is elaborated and defended from an ethical viewpoint that gives due weight both to the mental states of the agent and to the consequences of his agency. The principle of non-combatant immunity is also examined for its clear relevance to the debate. Further considerations involve the effectiveness of deterrence and its morality, and the question whether deterrence can be effective even if its use is prohibited. The book also discusses the implications of various possible changes in NATO policy.

Morality and the Bomb

Morality and the Bomb PDF Author: David Fisher
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312547844
Category : Deterrence (Strategy)
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Racing for the Bomb

Racing for the Bomb PDF Author: Robert S. Norris
Publisher: Skyhorse
ISBN: 1632201011
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 652

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Book Description
In September 1942, Colonel Leslie R. Groves was given the job of building the atomic bomb. As a career officer in the Army Corps of Engineers, Groves had overseen hundreds of military construction projects, including the Pentagon. Until now, scientists have received the credit for the Manhattan Project’s remarkable achievements. And yet, it was Leslie R. Groves who made things happen. It was Groves who drove manufacturers, construction crews, scientists, industrialists, and military and civilian officials to come up with the money, the materials, and the plans to solve thousands of problems and build the bomb in only two years. It was his operation, and in Racing for the Bomb he emerges as a take-charge, can-do figure who succeeds in the face of formidable odds. Revealed for the first time in Racing for the Bomb, Groves played a crucial and decisive role in the planning, timing, and targeting of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions. Norris offers new insights into the complex and controversial questions surrounding the decision to drop the bomb in Japan and Groves’s actions during World War II, which had a lasting imprint on the nuclear age and the Cold War that followed. Grove’s extensive influence on key institutions of postwar America has been overlooked for too long. In this full-scale biography, which includes archival material and family letters and documents and features several previously unpublished photographs, Norris places Groves at the center of the amazing Manhattan Project story. Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Tedder

Tedder PDF Author: Vincent Orange
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136295356
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 467

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Book Description
Arthur Tedder became one of the most eminent figures of the Second World War: first as head of Anglo-American air forces in the Middle East, the Mediterranean and North Africa; then as Deputy Supreme Commander to General Eisenhower for the Allied campaign that began in Normandy and ended in Berlin. During those anxious, exhilarating years, he was, as The Times of London wrote, 'the most unstuffy of great commanders, who could be found sitting cross-legged, jacketless, pipe smoldering, answering questions on a desert airstrip.' After the war, promoted to five-star rank and elevated to the peerage as Lord Tedder, he was made Chief of the Air Staff, holding this appointment for longer than anyone since his time: four critical years (from 1946 to 1949) that saw the tragic start of the Cold War and the inspiring achievement of the Berlin Airlift. In 1950, he became Britain's NATO representative in Washington: a year that saw the start of a hot war in Korea that threatened to spread around the globe. This book provides the first comprehensive account of a great commander's public career and uses hundreds of family letters to portray a private life, both joyful and tragic.

Clausewitz and America

Clausewitz and America PDF Author: Stuart Kinross
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134180284
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 680

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Book Description
This book demonstrates how Clausewitzian thought influenced American strategic thinking between the Vietnam War and the current conflict in Iraq. Carl von Clausewitz's thought played a part in the process of military reform and the transition in US policy that took place after the Vietnam War. By the time of the 1991 Gulf War, American policy makers demonstrated that they understood the Clausewitzian notion of utilizing military force to fulfil a clear political objective. The US armed forces bridged the operational and strategic levels during that conflict in accordance with Clausewitz’s conviction that war plans should be tailored to fulfil a political objective. With the end of the Cold War, and an increasing predilection for technological solutions, American policy makers and the military moved away from Clausewitz. It was only the events of 11 September 2001 that reminded Americans of his intrinsic value. However, while many aspects of the ‘War on Terror’ and the conflict in Iraq can be accommodated within the Clausewitzian paradigm, the lack of a clear policy for countering insurgency in Iraq suggests that the US may have returned full circle to the flawed strategic approach evident in Vietnam. Clausewitz and America will be of great interest to students of strategy, military history, international security and US politics.

The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy

The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy PDF Author: Lawrence Freedman
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137573503
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 786

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Book Description
“The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy quickly established itself as a classic when it first appeared in 1981. This edition makes it even better, incorporating as it does new material about the Cold War and up-dating to include subsequent developments. Filled with insights and penetrating analysis, this volume is truly indispensable.” —Robert Jervis, Author of How Statesmen Think "Freedman and Michaels have written a thorough and thought-provoking guide to nuclear strategy. The authors analyze the causes of both wise and unwise strategic decisions in the past and thereby shine a bright light on dilemmas we face in our common nuclear future." —Scott Sagan, Stanford University, USA “With its comprehensive coverage, clear and direct language, and judicious summaries of a vast literature, this new and wholly revised edition of The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy will be essential reading for any student of nuclear history, strategic studies, or contemporary international relations.” —Matthew Jones, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK “Sir Lawrence Freedman’s The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy has been the first port of call for three generations of academics and policy-makers wanting to familiarize themselves with the subject matter. The success of this book could have led Professor Freedman to satisfy himself with regular updates or afterwords. But the tireless author is now gracing us with an entirely revised edition of his masterpiece nearly forty years after its initial publication, taking into account findings from archives and declassified documents. At the same time, The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy remains true to its original purpose and spirit: an easy to read manual, light with footnotes, focusing on policy rather than on theory, and thus the best possible introduction to an arcane subject. In an era when nuclear strategy issues seem to be becoming relevant again, its historical scope and breadth will make its reading or re-reading even more useful – if only because knowing about the absurdity of the Cold war arms race is a prerequisite if one does not want to repeat its mistakes.” —Bruno Tertrais, Deputy Director, Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique, France “This updated and improved edition of the classic text on the evolution of nuclear strategy is a must read for anyone attempting to understand the nuclear predicament and where it is heading. Impressive in every respect!” —T.V. Paul, James McGill Professor of International Relations, McGill University, Canada, and the author of The Traditon of Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons “After the end of the Cold War, we hoped for a world in which nuclear weapons would have ‘low salience’, or might even disappear into virtual, non-assembled arsenals. Alas, they are coming to the fore again. With changes in political context and technology, it is thus pressing that ‘the Bible’ on the Evolution of Nuclear Strategy should be updated. Lawrence Freedman’s great classic has been admirably updated with the help of Jeff Michaels. The work, just as its previous editions, thus remains the definitive and authoritative point of reference on nuclear strategy in the twenty-first century.” —Beatrice Heuser, Chair of International Relations, University of Glasgow, Scotland First published in 1981, Lawrence Freedman's The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy was immediately acclaimed as the standard work on the history of attempts to cope militarily and politically with the terrible destructive power of nuclear weapons. It has now been completely rewritten, drawing on a wide range of new research, and updated to take account of the period following the end of the cold war, and covering all nuclear powers.

Collateral Damage

Collateral Damage PDF Author: Sahr Conway-Lanz
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136771239
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
"Collateral damage" is a military term for the inadvertent casualties and destruction inflicted on civilians in the course of military operations. In Collateral Damage: Americans, Noncombatant Immunity, and Atrocity after World War II, Sahr Conway-Lanz chronicles the history of America's attempt to reconcile the ideal of sparing civilians with the reality that modern warfare results in the killing of innocent people. Drawing on policymakers' response to the issues raised by the atrocities of World War II and the use of the atomic bomb, as well as the ongoing debate by the American public and the media as the Korean War developed, Conway-Lanz provides a comprehensive examination of modern American discourse on the topic of civilian casualties and provides a fascinating look at the development of what is now commonly known as collateral damage.