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Kyle Monsma1 April 2007American StudiesMr. PuchallaWhy America Made the H-BombIn the summer of 1945, the world was forever changed. The annihilation of two citiesand the surrender of Japan showed the potency of atomic weapons in war. The atomic age wasushered in as one of great technological development and much fear. With the end of WWII, anew conflict arose between the U.S.A. and the Soviet Union. Most Americans saw the SovietUnion as aggressors leaving its massive army in Eastern Europe. This conflict between twosuper powers developed into the Cold War. The Soviet threat became real to Americans in theSeptember of 1949 when the Soviet Union detonated its own nuclear weapon. A technologicalrace between the Soviet Union and U.S.A. began. To exert dominance, the U.S. developed thethermonuclear bomb. The thermonuclear bomb, also known as the Hydrogen bomb, works bysetting off a fission based nuclear reaction which heats up deuterium and tritium (hydrogenisotopes) to point in which the isotopes began to fuse. The fusing of the two isotopes puts out animmense amount of energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation, which will incinerateanything in a large radius. This H-bomb has a devastating power that has to be measured inmegatons (millions of tons of TNT). The development of the thermonuclear bomb was anecessity to help Americans, in general, feel safe from the communist threat by allowing the U.S.to maintain nuclear superiority and to provide deterrence from a direct Soviet attack.After WWII, many Americans had differing views on the atomic bomb, and its many usesalong with how to deal with the Soviet Union. The Truman administration in charge of 
 
developing and forming policies at the time came to shape American policies that would last for the next 10 to 20 years. The policies formed were the response to a changing world theater andSoviet aggression, which many Americans feared. Before 1949, the Truman policies were basedon assumptions about the U.S.S.R., which were expressed in the “Mr. X” article written byGeorge Kennan. George Kennan worked as a formal diplomat between the U.S. and the SovietUnion and wrote of “[t]he political personality of Soviet Union” (Kennan, 36). He warns U.S.government officials “that Soviet policies will reflect no abstract love of peace and stability,” andinstead they will have “a cautious, persistent pressure toward the disruption and weakening of allrival influence and rival power” (Kennan, 47-48). The Truman administration, knowing of theSoviet hopes in the eventual demise of capitalism, decided to take an even stronger containmentstance. This new stance would be on a global scale using improved economic, political, andmilitary power as tools. The U.S. as the sole nuclear power implemented the nuclear bomb tostrengthen its political and military might for containment. Many Americans showed their support for this position in the summer 1949, when 70% of Americans in a Gallup poll opposedany pledge by the U.S. to not be the first using an atomic weapon in war (Boyer, 86). Militaryofficials also agreed with the use of the atomic bomb for containment; George C. Kenney in theStrategic Air Command discussed openly the Pentagon’s plan of a gigantic nuclear strikeinvolving 133 A-bombs against Russia in the event of a war. In addition, the atomic bomb became an important ingredient in America’s defense posture against the new foreign threat.Continued research and development of the fission bomb was also continued, but the U.S.monopoly on nuclear weapons soon came to an end.Americans were struck with fear when Truman announced the U.S. had picked up“evidence that […] an atomic explosion occurred in the U.S.S.R.” (Truman). In September of 
 
1949, the Soviet’s successfully built and tested their own nuclear bomb; the U.S.A. had lost itsmonopoly. The atomic bomb could no longer be used as easily as an offensive weapon fromstrategic bombers nor as a defensive posture against Soviet invasion. The American governmentwas shocked how the under developed Soviet Union was able to develop its own nuclear bombso quickly. The Truman administration, military leaders, and the American public had to rethink.Truman commanded that a top-secret review be carried out on U.S. policies and tactics. Theresult was the NCS-68 documents, which had a greater effect on future government policies thanthe “Mr. X” document (the NCS-68 documents were however influenced by the “Mr. X”documents). The NCS-68 documents and the Joint Intelligence Committee predicted the buildup of the Soviet atomic arsenal and the possibility of attack from the Soviet Union once ithad sufficient capabilities. It was calculated that Communist nations as a whole would beatAmericans in “conventional, or nonatomic, warfare” and reach “an approximate stalemate innuclear weapons […] by about 1954” with the USA (NCS-68, 75). However, the document alsoindicated “[t]he United States might extend its advantage for a few years longer if the hydrogen bomb should be perfected” (NCS-68, 75). Americans, after calming down from fear of attack,changed the goal of US monopoly on atomic weapons to that of U.S. superiority. The U.S. JointChiefs of Staff requested a full out attempt to build the H-bomb. Additionally, Truman had allready made known his strong support for “research on all nuclear technology includingthermonuclear technology” on January 31, 1950 (“Timeline of Nuclear Age”, 1950). Because of the Soviet’s development of their own atomic bomb, the research and development of the H- bomb received a new incentive in the U.S.A., and the program was set in motion.The construction of the world’s first thermonuclear bomb experienced many obstacles.Before the Soviet detonation of the bomb many opposed the development of the H-bomb, even
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