Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan’s theory on the superiority of a country was

based on a strong navy. He concluded that a powerful fleet that could destroy an adversary in

one battle was crucial. At the time Admiral Mahan said this, he was correct. The world was

going thru an industrial revolution that made mass production of sea going vessels possible. In

this modern age the superiority of a country is based on a strong nuclear armament. While a

navy may take days to reach the coastline of a enemy shore, an intercontinental ballistic missile

can devastate the country before sailors board ships. From the Manhattan Project, to the Cold

War, and now in modern day countries that believe that nuclear weapons bring power, this river

of radioactive atoms is a hair raising one, when at any time all that man has built can be

destroyed.

Before the entry into W.W. II, but after Lise Meitner discovered the uranium atom

could be split in 1939 [1], the United States was conducting projects with the intent of atomic

energy being used as an energy source [2]. There was a shift in this with America declaring war

against the Axis Powers, and shifting plans from atomic energy to atomic weaponry [3].

Scientist under Hitler’s New Order were intrigued with the possibility of using nuclear power for

military use [4].

Leslie M. Groves was a Colonel in the Army Corps of Engineers when he was

approached by Lieutenant General Brehon Somervell to run the nuclear program in America.

After a quick promotion to Brigadier General, Groves got right to work. “If you do the job right,

it will win the war.”

Lieutenant General Brehon Somervell [5]. With the concrete already

poured, Groves had very little trouble diving into the project. He had enough support behind him

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from Washington to get the job done, and he knew that. Groves had an almost paranoid sense of

things, as he kept the staff to the bear minimum to avoid theft of data. Groves also did not know

what the Germans knew, one of the German scientist that defected to the United States could be a

Double Agent. As the now titled Manhattan Project progressed, and the war raged on in Europe,

Britain and the U.S. talked of trading military secrets to increase the outcome of the war in allied

favor [6]. With any agreement between two different entities there is always some small

amount of conflict. Each party wanting more out of the deal. Groves did not want the door just

swinging in the favor of the British. Prime Minister Winston Churchill removed all British

objections on a interchange of information that would support the war effort [7].

The

relationship between the U.S. and the United Kingdom on nuclear energy throughout most of the

war was established under the Quebec Agreement [8]. Under the Quebec Agreement a

committee was created to meet in Washington D.C. to supervise the combined efforts of the U.S.,

England, and Canada. The committee never had any serious disagreements and did not interfere

with the U.S. nuclear program [9]. With the Quebec Agreement and the Combined Policy

Committee, all parties involved were able to exchange personal, materials, equipment, and

information. At one point 28 British scientists were assigned to work under Groves [10].

Before Allied forces stormed the beaches of France on D-Day, there was the fear that Germans

could be capable of using atomic bombs against England [11].

The destructive power of a nuclear bomb is well known today. Besides the initial

blast, fear of radioactive fallout is present. After a study of the effects of radioactive poisoning

was made, various locations and personal in the United States and England were issued portable

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Geiger Counters. The strategy America was building to defeat Japan was the invasion of the

enemy’s homeland. It was essential for ending the war in the Pacific after Germany had

surrendered eight days after Hitler committed suicide. The Joint Chiefs of Staff approved a

concept of invading Kyushu, and then a final assault on Tokyo. General MacArthur and Admiral

Nimitz both agreed on a direct assault on Japan to reach an unconditional surrender. The

estimated number of troops needed for the final push for Japanese surrender was 1,500,000 [12].

While there was talks of invasion, certain questions were arising in the minds of military leaders:

“At this same time a debate arose about how the bomb should be employed. Should we conduct a demonstration of its power for all the world to see, and

then deliver an ultimatum to Japan, or should we use it without warning.”

General Leslie M. Groves [13].

The idea of invading Japan was scratched. A new plan was devised of dropping a

nuclear bomb on the island of Japan. General Marshall appointed Groves in charge of picking a

target to drop a bomb on [14]. The size of the blast was not known, and that was shaping up to

be the hardest problem facing the situation along with picking a location. It was thrown around

that a city with a military base should be used, and that maybe a city on the west coast of the

island should be used. Striking the western half of the country would show the Japanese people

that nothing would be out of the reach of the United States Armed Forces.

The sites were eventually chosen as Hiroshima for the first location, and at the last

minute Nagasaki replaced Kokura as the second location. The image of the mushroom cloud is

synonymous with destruction. Pictures of the sites bare resemblance too a graveyard. To this

day there are still those affected by radiation fallout. Discussion has come up if it was

responsible for the United States Air Force to drop such a destructive weapon on Hiroshima and

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Nagasaki. One might argue that the casualties would have been catastrophic if the bombs were

not dropped, on both sides, because Japan had stockpiled the southern island of Kyushu in

preparation of an American invasion. The dropping of two atomic bombs possibly saved more

lives than it took.

The July 26 th Movement led by Fidel Castro successfully removed the Batista

Regime in Cuba. After the take over the charismatic leader was invited by Harvard to come and

give a speech at the university. To a crowd of 8,700 people, Castro gave a fiery speech and was

treated like a rock-star [15]. Both American and Soviet officials were wondering which way the

brand new Cuba would lean, towards communism or democracy. After gaining a general distrust

of America, Castro aligned himself with communist Russia.

America reacted to this by sending

nationalist to various locations in Central America where they could start training camps in

spying, sabotage, and radio operations in hopes of overthrowing the Castro regime [16]. The

nationalist stormed the coast of Cuba and the outcome after they were overrun was that the Bay

of Pigs defeat now meant that the U.S. had a communist country 90 miles away from Miami

[17]. The event was not just a Cuban victory, but a communist victory. Cuba now served as a

front line for the Cold War, along with Berlin. Both the U.S. and Russia were competing for

superiority. A negotiation of a ban on nuclear tests had been going on between Washington D.C.

and Moscow since 1958 [18]. Atmospheric tests had the potential of being harmful to living

organisms, because of this the U.S. shifted to underground testing. Chairman of the Council of

Ministers Nikita Khrushchev had talked of banning nuclear tests before Eisenhower.

Khrushchev feared that if inspections were made after seismic tests it would give the U.S. a

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chance to spy on Russia [19].

Khrushchev furthermore felt that nuclear disarmament would not

occur as long as there were problems in Berlin [20]. The deployment of American Jupiter

missiles to Turkey angered the Soviets, possibly leading the Russians to send Ambassador

Alekseev to see what Fidel would say about Russian missiles being placed in Cuba [21]. Fidel

agreed to this, possibly wanting to help after Russia had cradled the young country with and

arsenal of tanks and firearms. The Soviet Freighter Indigirka docked in Mariel Harbor on

October 4, 1962. Its cargo contained the 1 st shipment of nuclear warheads for Cuba [22]. Major

Richard S. Heyer took off from Edwards Air Force Base in California for a U-2 reconnaissance

mission over western Cuba after C.I.A. spies had reported strange and secret military work going

on in the region [23].

The flight revealed the construction site of several dozen missile sites.

Several back channels were used by the Kennedy Administration to get in touch with

Khrushchev to settle the agreement with a peaceful solution. Moscow wanted the Jupiter

missiles out of Turkey if it was to remove the missiles from Cuba. Both sides agreed to this and

withdrew the sites accordingly. Robert Kennedy has been noted to say how patient his brother

was during the event, and that Kennedy was constantly reminding EXCOM that they need to

think of how there actions will make Khrushchev react. Miscalculating anything during this

situation could have possibly led to World War III. Robert Kennedy’s view on the crisis can be

summed up in this sentence: “For that is how wars begin -wars that no one wants, no one intends,

and no one wins” [24]. U.S. intelligence did not know that Russian forces had nuclear missiles

armed and ready to use against any invasion.

The Cuban Missile Crisis shows that in this modern

day of technological warfare, it is crucial for leaders to always step back for a moment

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before the thought of pushing that big red button. Kennedy and Khrushchev did a fine job of

working out the problem at hand with a pen instead of a sword.

Today peace is a lot harder to gain than by simply sending your adversary a letter.

Certain countries around the globe are doing now what the United States and the Former Soviet

Union did shortly after World War II. North Korea, Iran, Pakistan, and Israel are all believed to

be building up there nuclear arsenal. With smaller countries wanting to gain global domination

with an I.C.B.M. (or intercontinental ballistic missile) in the back pocket instead of words, it is

only a matter of time before a weapon of immense proportion is used for the wrong purpose at

the wrong time and possibly set off the extinction of the planet.

The five permanent members of

the United Nations Security Council (United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China, and France)

see to it that no other country develops nuclear capabilities. Ireland and Finland proposed a

treaty to stop the spread of nuclear weapons [25]. There are currently 189 countries that have

signed this treaty [26]. Iran is in the news almost daily being rebellious towards the United

Nations, as it continues to withhold information as to the nature of its nuclear program. Only

time can tell what will happen on the status of Iran’s nuclear program.

One can only hope with all that humans have learned about atomic technology and

weapons, that the world as a whole can continue to improve on the blocking of nuclear weapons

intended for hostile actions. Over the last 70 years of atomic research two ideas can always be

considered. One being that nuclear weapons posses a large amount of power that can be quite

scary, and the second being that at any given point that two adversaries can put each other into a

stalemate of a nuclear standoff.

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