Learning to Love the Bomb

Learning to Love the Bomb PDF Author: Sean M. Maloney
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
ISBN: 1612342477
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 611

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Book Description
In Learning to Love the Bomb, Sean M. Maloney explores the controversial subject of Canada's acquisition of nuclear weapons during the Cold War. Based on newly declassified Canadian and U.S. documents, it examines policy, strategy, operational, and technical matters and weaves these seemingly disparate elements into a compelling story that finally unlocks several Cold War mysteries. For example, while U.S. military forces during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis were focused on the Caribbean Sea and the southeastern United States, Canadian forces assumed responsibility for defending the northern United States, with aircraft armed with nuclear depth charges flying patrols and guarding against missile attack by Soviet submarines. This defensive strategy was a closely guarded secret because it conflicted with Canada's image as a peacekeeper and therefore a more passive member of NATO than its ally to the south. It is revealed here for the first time. The place of nuclear weapons in Canadian history has, until now, been a highly secret and misunderstood field subject to rumor, rhetoric, half-truths, and propaganda. Learning to Love the Bomb reveals the truth about Canada's role as a nuclear power.

Learning to Love the Bomb

Learning to Love the Bomb PDF Author: Sean M. Maloney
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
ISBN: 1612342477
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 611

Get Book

Book Description
In Learning to Love the Bomb, Sean M. Maloney explores the controversial subject of Canada's acquisition of nuclear weapons during the Cold War. Based on newly declassified Canadian and U.S. documents, it examines policy, strategy, operational, and technical matters and weaves these seemingly disparate elements into a compelling story that finally unlocks several Cold War mysteries. For example, while U.S. military forces during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis were focused on the Caribbean Sea and the southeastern United States, Canadian forces assumed responsibility for defending the northern United States, with aircraft armed with nuclear depth charges flying patrols and guarding against missile attack by Soviet submarines. This defensive strategy was a closely guarded secret because it conflicted with Canada's image as a peacekeeper and therefore a more passive member of NATO than its ally to the south. It is revealed here for the first time. The place of nuclear weapons in Canadian history has, until now, been a highly secret and misunderstood field subject to rumor, rhetoric, half-truths, and propaganda. Learning to Love the Bomb reveals the truth about Canada's role as a nuclear power.

Canadian Nuclear Weapons

Canadian Nuclear Weapons PDF Author: John Clearwater
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 1554881218
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
"We are thus not only the first country in the world with the capability to produce nuclear weapons that chose not to do so, we are also the first nuclear armed country to have chosen to divest itself of nuclear weapons." Pierre Trudeau United Nations, 26 May 1978 From 1963 to 1984, US nuclear warheads armed Canadian weapons systems in both Canada and West Germany. It is likely that during the early part of this period, the Canadian military was putting more effort, money, and manpower into the nuclear commitment than any other single activity. This important book is an operational-technical history and exposÈ of this period. Its purpose is to bring together until-recently secret information about the nature of the nuclear arsenal in Canada, and combine it with known information about the systems in the US nuclear arsenal. The work begins with an account of the efforts of the Pearson government to sign the agreement with the US necessary to bring nuclear weapons to Canada. Subsequent chapters provide a detailed discussion of the four nuclear weapons systems deployed by Canada: the BOMARC surface-to-air guided interceptor missile; the Honest John short range battlefield rocket; the Starfighter tactical thermonuclear bomber; the VooDoo-Genie air defence system. Each chapter also includes a section on the accidents and incidents which occurred while the weapons were at Canadian sites. The final chapter covers the ultimately futile efforts of the Maritime Air Command and the Royal Canadian Navy to acquire nuclear weapons. An appendix includes the text of the until-now secret agreements Canada signed with the USA for the provision of nuclear weapons. Illustrated throughout with photographs and diagrams, and supported by extensive transcriptions of original documents, Canadian Nuclear Weapons will be of great value both to scholars and interested laypersons in its presentation of what has been a deeply hidden secret of Canadian political and military history.

Canadian Nuclear Weapons

Canadian Nuclear Weapons PDF Author: John Clearwater
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 1459713184
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
"We are thus not only the first country in the world with the capability to produce nuclear weapons that chose not to do so, we are also the first nuclear armed country to have chosen to divest itself of nuclear weapons." Pierre Trudeau United Nations, 26 May 1978 From 1963 to 1984, US nuclear warheads armed Canadian weapons systems in both Canada and West Germany. It is likely that during the early part of this period, the Canadian military was putting more effort, money, and manpower into the nuclear commitment than any other single activity. This important book is an operational-technical history and exposÈ of this period. Its purpose is to bring together until-recently secret information about the nature of the nuclear arsenal in Canada, and combine it with known information about the systems in the US nuclear arsenal. The work begins with an account of the efforts of the Pearson government to sign the agreement with the US necessary to bring nuclear weapons to Canada. Subsequent chapters provide a detailed discussion of the four nuclear weapons systems deployed by Canada: the BOMARC surface-to-air guided interceptor missile; the Honest John short range battlefield rocket; the Starfighter tactical thermonuclear bomber; the VooDoo-Genie air defence system. Each chapter also includes a section on the accidents and incidents which occurred while the weapons were at Canadian sites. The final chapter covers the ultimately futile efforts of the Maritime Air Command and the Royal Canadian Navy to acquire nuclear weapons. An appendix includes the text of the until-now secret agreements Canada signed with the USA for the provision of nuclear weapons. Illustrated throughout with photographs and diagrams, and supported by extensive transcriptions of original documents, Canadian Nuclear Weapons will be of great value both to scholars and interested laypersons in its presentation of what has been a deeply hidden secret of Canadian political and military history.

U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Canada

U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Canada PDF Author: John Clearwater
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 1550023292
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
In a follow-up to Canadian Nuclear Weapons, the author brings together recently declassified information of nuclear weapons stored, stationed, or lost in Canada.

Canada's Early Nuclear Policy

Canada's Early Nuclear Policy PDF Author: Brian Buckley
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 0773568611
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
In Canada's Early Nuclear Policy Brian Buckley weaves information from a number of disciplines to shed new light on Canada's early policies. Filling a longstanding gap in the national story, he explores the country's role in the early post-war period, cautioning against simplistic explanations and pointing to the continuing roles of contingency and personality in decision making. While the threat of nuclear war has receded in recent years, the number of states with nuclear weapons, the number of weapons, and their killing power are all far greater than they were five decades ago. Virtually all the issues that emerged fifty years ago remain on the international agenda and are as relevant today as ever.

The Nuclear North

The Nuclear North PDF Author: Susan Colbourn
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774864001
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
Since the first atomic weapon was detonated in 1945, Canadians have debated not only the role of nuclear power in their uranium-rich land but also their country’s role in a nuclear world. Should Canada belong to international alliances that depend on the threat of nuclear weapons for their own security? Should Canadian-produced nuclear technologies be exported? What about the impact of atomic research on local communities and the environment? This incisive nuclear history engages with much larger debates about national identity, Canadian foreign policy contradictions during the Cold War, and Canada’s global standing to investigate these critical questions.

Canada and the Nuclear Arms Race

Canada and the Nuclear Arms Race PDF Author: Ernie Regehr
Publisher: Lorimer
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
First published in 1983, this book reports from the middle of the nuclear arms race, when the world's two superpowers, the US and the USSR, were adding increasingly sophisticated weapons to their arsenals, reaching a point where they could effectively wipe each other out many times over. Some of Canada's most distinguished critics of the nuclear arms race examine this drift to annihilation, show how Canada was contributing to it, and explain the policies that Canada could have adopted to encourage the reversal of the arms race.

Canada as a Nuclear Weapon-free Zone

Canada as a Nuclear Weapon-free Zone PDF Author: Shannon Selin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nuclear-weapon-free zones
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Book Description


Canada and the Nuclear Challenge

Canada and the Nuclear Challenge PDF Author: Canada. Parliament. House of Commons. Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Publisher: Micromedia, [1998 or 1999]
ISBN:
Category : Arms control
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description


NATO and the Bomb

NATO and the Bomb PDF Author: Erika Simpson
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 0773568654
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Using a new conceptual framework, this study documents and analyses the underlying convictions of influential Canadians, explains why there were such varied degrees of support for NATO, and shows why different leaders either supported or rejected nuclear weapons and the stationing of the Canadian Forces in Europe. Examples taken from previously classified documents illustrate how the underlying convictions of leaders such as Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau significantly shaped defence policy. Behind-the-scenes maneuvering and competing beliefs about nuclear weapons, deterrence strategy, and possible entrapment in a nuclear war led some to defend and others to criticize Canada's approach to both NATO and the bomb. Despite the technological ability and resources to develop its own nuclear weapons - or to acquire them from the United States - Canada ultimately chose not to become a nuclear power. Why did some Canadian leaders defend the nuclear option and urge the deployment of the Canadian Forces in Europe? Why did others condemn the country's nuclear commitments and call for an end to the arms race? Simpson shows that some leaders rejected prevailing American defence strategy and weapons systems to pursue alternative approaches to managing Canada's complex bilateral and multilateral defence relationships.