PRODUCTION OF THIS PROGRAM WAS MADE POSSIBLE IN PART BY A GRANT FROM THE CORPORATION OF PUBLIC BROADCASTING AND THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION.

>>Interpreter: (JAPANESE LANGUAGE) I SAW WOMEN WHO WERE BURNED TAKING REFUGE AND I SAW THEIR FACES.

THEIR FACES WERE SO SWOLLEN THEY COULD NOT OPEN THEIR EYES AND THEIR SKIN AND CLOTHES WERE STUCKTOGETHER AND HANGING FROM THEIR ARMS.

THEY WERE VERY MISERABLE AND THEIR DEATH A GRUESOME SIGHT.

>>Narrator: ON AUGUST 6TH, 1946, AMONG THE RUINS OF HIROSHIMA, SURVIVORS OF THE WORLD'S FIRST NUCLEAR WAR RALLIED.

THEY CARRIED SIGNS THAT READ "NO MORE WAR" AND "PEACE BEGINS HERE."

SEARED BY ATOMICFIRE, THEY WERE REBORN AS CHAMPIONS OF PEACE.

THE NEXT YEAR, MAYOR HAMAI RENAMED HIROSHIMA THE "CITY OF PEACE" SAYING, "AUGUST 6TH SHOULD BE REMEMBERED...FOR HAVING CREATED AN OPPORTUNITY TOESTABLISH WORLD PEACE...

THESE TERRIFYING WEAPONS HAVE BROUGHT A REVOLUTION IN OUR THOUGHTS... ASA RESULT WE FIND NEW TRUTHS AND NEW PATHS FOR STARTING LIFE ANEW.

LET US BAN THE HORROR AND CRIMEOF WAR AND ESTABLISH TRUE PEACE."

>>Narrator: ACROSS THE WORLD, THE MAN INSTRUMENTAL IN UNLEASHING THIS ATOMIC POWER WAS TROUBLED BYHIS CONSCIENCE AND A GRIM VISION.

J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER SAW NEW WEAPONS EVOLVING THAT MADE ATOMICBOMBSAPPEAR PUNY.

HE ALSO SAW THAT A COMMITMENT TO PEACE WAS THE ANSWER.

IN HIS 1953 SECURITY CLEARANCE HEARING: Q.

YOU KNEW DROPPING THAT ATOMIC BOMB WOULD KILL OR INJURE THOUSANDS OF CIVILIANS, IS THAT CORRECT?

A.

NOT AS MANY AS TURNED OUT.

Q.

HOW MANY WERE KILLED OR INJURED?

A. SEVENTY THOUSAND.

Q.

DID YOU HAVE MORAL SCRUPLES ABOUT THAT?

A.

TERRIBLE ONES... Q.

WOULD YOU HAVE SUPPORTED THE DROPPING OF A THERMONUCLEAR BOMB ON HIROSHIMA?

A.

IT WOULD MAKE NO SENSE AT ALL.

Q.

WHY?

A.

THE TARGET IS TOO SMALL.

>>Narrator: FROM 1946, NUCLEAR WEAPONS EVOLVED AT AN ASTONISHING PACE.

INSPIRED PHYSICS AND INVENTIVE ENGINEERING BROUGHT FANTASTIC WEAPONS INTO REALITY.

THE BOMB QUICKLY EVOLVED INTO A SLEEK, SOPHISTICATED WEAPON.

NOW, MANY TIMES THE DESTRUCTIVE POWER OF WW II COULD BE RELEASED IN A SINGLE AFTERNOON.

>>Eno: WE WERE NEVER REALLY AFRAID OF ANYTHING EXCEPT FAILING.

>>Narrator: THIS WAS A TIME OF EMERGENCY ORDERS AS THE UNITED STATES BUILT A FORMIDABLE NUCLEAR ARSENAL TO STAY THE THREAT OF COMMUNISM.

THESE WERE THE YEARS OF THE COLD WAR AND DETERRENCE AS EISENHOWER DEFINED AS "TO BE CONSTANTLY READY TO INFLICT GREATER LOSS UPON THE ENEMY THAN HE COULD REASONABLY HOPE TO INFLICT ON US."

THE SOVIETS CALLED IT SIMPLY TERROR.

>>Wechsler: MOST OF US WORKING ON THESE THINGS COULD NOT IMAGINE THEM BEING USED YOU COULD ONLY IMAGINE THEM BEING SUCH A THREAT THAT NOBODY WOULD GO AHEAD WITH SUCH A THING.

IF YOU GO THE OTHER ROUTEYOUR MIND CAN'T HANDLE IT, BECAUSE IT IS OVERWHELMING TO IMAGINE KILLING MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WITH WEAPONS OF THIS SORT.

>>Rosenbluth: WHAT WORRIED ME THEN, HAS WORRIED ME THROUGH THE YEARS, IT COULD GO EITHER WAY.

>>Rhodes: THE ATOMIC BOMBINGS OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI WERE ABSOLUTELY A DEFINING MOMENT OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, MAYBE A DEFINING MOMENT IN HUMAN HISTORY.

THEY MADE IT CLEAR IN THE MOST BRUTALWAY WHAT THIS NEW DISCOVERY WAS ABOUT.

>>Narrator: IN NANOSECONDS THE NATURE OF WARFARE AND HOW NATIONS WOULD RELATE TO EACH OTHER WAS FOREVER CHANGED.

WAR REACHED ITS ZENITH.

THE FOLLOWING COLD WAR YEARS WERE COMPLICATED BY PERSONALITIES,IDEOLOGIES, OLD FEARS AND NEW VISIONS.

UNLOCKING THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE WOULD BE RELATIVELY EASY COMPARED TO FINDING THE FORMULA FOR PEACE.

>>Narrator: IT WAS STANDING ROOM ONLY FOR OPERATION CROSSROADS THE FIRST NON-WAR RELATED ATOMIC TEST.

FREE FROM THE VEIL OF TOP SECRECY, EVERYONE WANTED TO STUDY THIS PHENOMENON.

READIED WERE IMPLOSION BOMBS ALMOST IDENTICAL TO FATMAN" DROPPED ON NAGASAKI.

A FLEET OF NINETY-TWO AGING WWII WARSHIPS MANNED BY GOATS WAS ASSEMBLED.

THE FIRST TEST, ABLE, WAS AN AIR DETONATION.

THE TARGET AT THECENTER OF THIS GUINEA PIG FLEET WAS THE BATTLESHIP NEVADA.

BLAMED ON POOR AERODYNAMICS, THE BOMB MISSED BY ALMOST TWO MILES.

IT SANK ONLY FIVE SHIPS.

DETONATED UNDERWATER, BAKER YIELDED TWENTY-ONEKILOTONS WITH SPECTACULAR EFFECT.

TOSSED ABOUT LIKE TOYS, NINE SHIPS SANK.

CROSSROADS IS NOT SIGNIFICANT FOR ITS DEVELOPMENT OF ATOMIC WEAPONS.

ITS REAL IMPACT LIES ELSEWHERE.THE AWFUL DESTRUCTION OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI CATALYZED NEW FEARS AROUND THE WORLD.

THE SOVIETS DENOUNCED THE ATOMIC BOMBINGS AS A "REPULSIVE ACT OF CYNICAL ANTI-HUMANISM."

STALIN PROCLAIMED "ATOMIC BOMBS ARE MEANT TO FRIGHTEN THOSE WITH WEAK NERVES."

FINDING A STRATEGIC BALANCE WITH THE US WOULDNOW DOMINATE SOVIET THINKING.

ARGUMENTS OVER THE CONTROL OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS BROKE OUT.

THE UNITED STATES OFFERED A PLAN TO ABOLISH ATOMIC WEAPONS.

THE SOVIETS COUNTERED WITH THEIR PLAN.

AROUND THE WORLD, THE SINCERITY OF THE U.S. PLAN WAS DOUBTED.

FOUR DAYS EARLIER, OPERATION CROSSROADS HAD ENDED.

STALIN'S FEARS WERE NOW INTENSIFIED.

THE ATOMIC BOMBING OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI ENDED ONE WAR; CROSSROADS IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE IT WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE NEXT.

>>Rhodes: AMERICANS LIKE TO THINK OF THEMSELVES AS WELL IF ANYBODY HAS THE BOMB WE SHOULD HAVE IT BECAUSE WE KNOW WE WON'T USE IT EXCEPT THERE IS A GOOD REASON.

WELL, UNFORTUNATELY THE REST OF THE WORLD DOESN'T NECESSARILY THINK THE SAME WAY ABOUT US.

AND, SINCE WE ARE THE ONLY NATION THAT EVER ACTUALLY USED THESE TERRIBLE THINGS, IT IS NOT SURPRISING.

FROM THE RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE AND THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE RUSSIAN SCIENTIST IT WAS A VERY NECESSARY THING AND THEY WORKED JUST AS HARDON IT AS OUR PEOPLE AND THEY DID IT IN THE SAME NUMBER OF MONTHS.

>>Diven: I DON'T SEE ANYTHING INCONGRUOUS ABOUT DEVELOPING WEAPONS AND TALKING PEACE.

I THINK THE GENERAL IDEA OF TALKING PEACE IS BEST DONE FROM A POSITION OF STRENGTH AND NOT WEAKNESS.

>>Narrator: OPERATION SANDSTONE DEBUTED THE UNITED STATES ATOMI >>Narrator: OPERATION SANDSTONE DEBUTED THE UNITED STATES ATOMIC PROVING GROUNDS ON THE ENIWETOK ATOLL IN THE MARSHALL ISLANDS.

INTERROGATED BY THE FBI, TEST PERSONNEL WERE ASKED TO SWEAR THEY WERE NOT COMMUNISTS.

TO WASHINGTON, IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE SOVIETS HAD "THE BOMB."

THIS MEANT ONLY ONE THING, WWIII.

AT THE HEART OF THE COMMUNIST REVOLUTION WAS THE BELIEF THAT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM WAS CRUCIAL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIETY.

THE "FLOODS OF BLOOD"RAN HIGH.

LENIN GAVE BIRTH TO MODERN GENOCIDE AND STALIN FOLLOWED TAKING HAMMER AND SICKLE TO HISOWN HIS PEOPLE WITH UNPRECEDENTED CRUELTY.

CALLED THE "GREAT TERROR," ONE SOVIET OFFICIAL ESTIMATEDSTALIN MURDERED ALMOST 20 MILLION RUSSIANS.

SUMMONED TO MOSCOW FROM THE UKRAINE, NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV FOUND LIFE IN STALIN'S INNER CIRCLE AN "INSANE ASYLUM."

>>Rosenbluth: YOU KNOW DURING THE WAR THE RUSSIAN MILITARY TACTICS WERE ESSENTIALLY NOT TO WORRY ABOUT HOW MANY OF THEIR SOLDERS WERE KILLED THEY WOULD JUST GO IN FRONTAL ATTACKS.

I COULD PERFECTLY WELL CONCEIVE THAT THEY WOULD BE WILLING TO HAVE TEN OR TWENTY MILLION OF THEIR PEOPLE KILLED IF THEYCOULD BEAT US OR HAVE WORLD DOMINATION.

>>Agnew: THOSE GUYS WERE A LITTLE BIT NUTS.

>>Narrator: SANDSTONE MARKED THE BEGINNING OF WEAPONS EVOLUTION.

THE DESIGNS PROMISED A BIGGER BANG AND THEY DELIVERED.

THE X-RAY TEST, YIELDED 37 KILOTONS AND YOKE DELIVERED 49 KILOTONS.

THE US COULDSEE A 75% INCREASE IN YIELD OR EXPLOSIVE POWER AND A 63% INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF BOMBS PRODUCED.

THRILLED, LOS ALAMOS DIRECTOR NORRIS BRADBURY SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS.

DAVID LILIENTHAL, THE CHAIRMAN OF THE NEWLY FORMED CIVILIAN CONTROLLED ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION WAS MORE SOBER.

HE SAID: "I DON'T OBJECT AT ALL THAT THE JOB IS BEING DONE WELL; BUT THAT THERE SHOULD NOT BE EVEN A SINGLE 'TOKEN' EXPRESSION OF PROFOUND CONCERN OR REGRET THAT WE ARE ENGAGED IN DEVELOPING WEAPONS DIRECTED AGAINST THE INDISCRIMINATE DESTRUCTION OF DEFENSELESS MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN BOTHERED ME."

>>Narrator: THE ALLIED COOPERATION OF WWII ENDED ABRUPTLY IN 1948.

SOVIET FORCES TOOK CONTROL IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA ON FEBRUARY 25TH AND ON JUNE 24TH BLOCKADED WEST BERLIN.

IN JUNE 1950,COMMUNIST FORCES ATTACKED SOUTH KOREA: A SHIFT IN STRATEGY FROM SUBVERSION TO OUTRIGHT AGGRESSION.

EXPECTING THESOVIETS TO JOIN THE FIGHT, THE U.S.

FACED A NATIONAL EMERGENCY.

TRUMAN SAID HE WOULD TAKE NECESSARY STEPS TO REMEDY THE SITUATION, SAYING, "THAT INCLUDES EVERY WEAPON WE HAVE."

AIR FORCE SECRETARY STUART SYMINGTON ADDED TO THE ALREADY NERVOUS U.S. BY SAYING, "IN THE ATOMIC AGE, THERE IS NO PLACE TO HIDE.

"IN OCTOBER THE FIRST AIR RAID SHELTER SIGNS APPEARED IN NEW YORK CITY AND A BOOKLET SURVIVAL UNDER ATOMIC ATTACK DISTRIBUTED.

>>Agnew: I REMEMBER AT LOS ALAMOS, IN PROBABLY THE EARLY 50'S, MAYBE IT WAS IN 46.

SOME OF US WEREADVOCATING BOMBING RUSSIA ONCE A MONTH.

WE HAD LIMITED STOCKPILE, BUT WE THOUGHT WHAT WE HAVE GOTTO DOWAS GET RID OF THEIR INDUSTRIAL CAPABILITY AND JUST KEEP THEM ON THEIR KNEES.

INTERESTING WHO THOUGHT THIS WERE PEOPLE WHO HAD ANCESTRY IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA OR HUNGARY, THE BORDER TO THE SOVIET UNION.

>>Narrator: THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ATOMIC TEST TO ADVANCE US NUCLEAR WEAPONS TO ADVANCE US NUCLEAR WEAPONS TOOK PLACE IN NORTHEASTERN KAZAKHSTAN.

THE SOVIET'S JOE 1 SENT SHOCK WAVES THAT REACHED TO WASHINGTON.

THE SOVIETS NOT ONLY WERE ON EQUAL FOOTING WITH THE US, BUT THEY HAD SOMETHING FAR MORE IMPORTANT - THE THERMONUCLEAR TRIGGER!

EDWARD TELLER WOULD GET HIS CHANCE TO BUILD THE BOMB HE DREAMED OF.

>>Rhodes: THE RUSSIANS HAD A BIG ARMY ON THE GROUND IN EUROPE AND WE HAD THE BOMB.

AND THEN ONE DAYWE WOKE UP AND THE RUSSIANS HAD A BIG ARMY ON THE GROUND IN EUROPE AND THE BOMB.

THAT IS WHY THEREWAS SO MUCH PANIC IN WASHINGTON.

WHAT SHALL WE DO.

WHAT SHALL WE DO.

WE HAD A WEAPON THAT WAS A CLEAR AND DECISIVE ADVANTAGE OVER ANYONE ELSE, AND SUDDENLY THERE WERE TWO.

>>Agnew: THE THING THAT ALWAYS IMPRESSED ME ABOUT THE SOVIET WORK WAS HOW THEY WERE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH ALL THAT THEY DID CONSIDERING THE MESS THEIR COUNTRY WAS IN AT THE END OF THE WAR, THE DEVASTATION.

THAT HAS ALWAYS AMAZED ME.

>>Narrator: ARROGANT, INTELLECTUAL AND PERSUASIVE, CHAIRMAN OF THE GENERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THEAEC, OPPENHEIMER WAS CONCERNED HOW THE H-BOMB CAUGHT THE IMAGINATION OF CONGRESS AND THE MILITARY.

IMMENSELY INFLUENTIAL, HE THOROUGHLY ANGERED THOSE WHO WERE BENT ON COUNTERING THE COMMUNIST THREAT.HE FELT THAT THE H-BOMB CREATED A PEACE "FULL OF DANGERS."

OTHER COMMITTEE MEMBERS AGREED, ENRICO FERMI AND I.I.

RABI SAID: "IT CANNOT BE CONFINED TO A MILITARY OBJECTIVE BUT BECOMES A WEAPON WHICH IN PRACTICAL EFFECT IS ALMOST ONE OF GENOCIDE.

A DESIRABLE PEACE CANNOT COME FROM SUCH ANINHUMAN APPLICATION OF FORCE.

IT IS AN EVIL THING CONSIDERED IN ANY LIGHT."

>>Agnew: AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED IF IT COULD BE DONE IT WOULD BE DONE.

AND I JUST HAD NO UNDERSTANDING OF THE RATIONALE OF THE PEOPLE WHO SAID "NO."

BECAUSE THEY HAD CLEARLY NO CONTROL OF WHAT ANY BODY ELSE COULD DO AND WE CLEARLY WE STILL CONCERNED WITH THE RUSSIANS, VERY MUCH IN THE COLD WAR.

ANDIT WAS CLEAR THAT IF THIS WERE A TECHNICAL POSSIBILITY IT WOULD BE THE NEXT STEP.

AND SO IJUST DIDN'T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE OPPOSED THIS.

>>Interviewer: NOT EVEN ON MORAL OR ETHICAL GROUNDS?

>>Agnew: I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS MORAL OR ETHICAL.

PEOPLE SHOOT EACH OTHER WITH BULLETS.

ARMIES KILLEACH OTHER WITH BULLETS, WITH FLAME-THROWERS, I SEE NO DIFFERENCE, YOU KNOW YOU JUST DO MORE ATONE TIME.

I THINK WAR IS MORALLY WRONG.

KILLING ANYONE IS WRONG.

>>Narrator: TRUMAN MADE THE FINAL CALL.

HE AGREED WITH THE JOINT CHIEFS AND GAVE THE GO AHEAD SAYING, "WE GOT TO HAVE IT FOR BARGAINING PURPOSES WITH THE RUSSIANS."

>>Rhodes: BUT, FROM TRUMAN'S POINT OF VIEW I DON'T THINK IT TOOK HIM FIVE MINUTES TO MAKE UP HIS MIND.

THE MILITARY SAID WE NEED IT, WE NEED IT, BOOM.

>>Agnew: I DIDN'T PLAY POKER.

I'M TOO TIGHT.

I CAN'T STAND LOSING ANYTHING, MONEY OR ANY COMPETITIONOR A GAME OR ANYTHING.

I DIDN'T PLAY POKER.

I DON'T LIKE BLUFFING, WHICH YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO DOIF ARE A SUCCESSFUL POKER PLAYER.

>>Narrator: IN THE PACIFIC, THE QUEST FOR A SUPER BOMB BEGAN.

VERY, HUSH, HUSH, GREENHOUSE WAS TO BETHE FIRST THERMONUCLEAR REACTION ON EARTH.

WITH TOP PHYSICISTS IN ATTENDANCE, IT WAS ALSO THE SITE OF REMARKABLE POKER GAMES.

DESPITE ITS IMPRESSIVE ENERGY FISSION HAD LIMITS, BUT FUSION, THE POWER OF THE STARS, OFFERED UNLIMITED POWER.

IT WAS THE PRIZE.

IN 1941, ENRICO FERMI SAW HOW AN ATOMIC BOMBCOULD CREATE HEAT EQUAL TO THE SUN AND FUSE HYDROGEN ATOMS RESULTING "IN A COLOSSAL RELEASE OF ENERGY."

FERMI DETERMINED ONE GRAM OF DEUTERIUM CONVERTED TO HELIUM WAS ONE-HUNDRED MILLIONTIMES MORE POWERFUL THAN A GRAM OF CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVE AND EIGHT TIMES STRONGER THAN URANIUM-235.

IN THE GEORGE TEST, A "CYLINDER" HELD A FRACTION OF AN OUNCE OF DEUTERIUM AND TRITIUM, ISOTOPES OFHYDROGEN.

THEY WERE HELD AWAY FROM THE CENTER OF AN ATOMIC BLAST TO STUDY THE EFFECTS OF X-RAY RADIATION.

TESTS HAD SHOWN AN ATOMIC BOMB PRODUCES RADIATION DENSITIES MANY TIMES HEAVIER THAN LEAD ANATTAINS STELLAR HEAT.

TWO HUNDRED KILOTONS WERE FROM FISSION, REMAINING TWENTY-FIVE, MORE THAN THE HIROSHIMA BLAST, FROM LESS THAN AN OUNCE OF DEUTERIUM AND TRITIUM.

ITEM TESTED "FUSION BOOSTING."

A SMALL AMOUNT OF DEUTERIUM AND TRITIUM WAS PLACED IN THE CORE OF AN ATOMIC BOMB AND DOUBLED ITEM'S YIELD.

THE RESULTS OF GREENHOUSE GAVE A NEW OPTIMISM TO CREATING THE SUPER.

AN ELATED TELLER CONFIDED TO ANOBSERVER, THAT EINWETOK WOULD NOT BE BIG ENOUGH FOR THE NEXT TEST.

>>Narrator: OPPENHEIMER HAD CONCERNS ABOUT THE H-BOMB BEING OUR SALVATION.

IN A LETTER TO NIELS BOHRHE WROTE: "...IT MAY SEEM CURIOUS TO YOU THAT WE IN THIS COUNTRY HAVE BEEN SO SLOW TO RECOGNIZEWHERE LAY OUR TRUE HOPE AND OUR GREAT DANGER.

I HAVE NOT DESPAIRED THAT WE SHALL YET HAVE LEARNEDIN TIME."

>>York: I DON'T HAVE ANY TROUBLE IDENTIFYING WITH HIM AT ALL, IDENTIFYING WITH HIS FEELINGS.

I BELIEVE HIM AND I CAN EASILY SEE WHAT HE IS THINKING ABOUT WHEN HE SAID, "I HAVE BECOME DEATH THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS."

THERE'S ALSO THE REMARK HE MADE LATER IN WHICH HE SAID, "IN SOME SENSE THAT NO HUMOR,NO UNDERSTATEMENT CAN COVER UP THAT THE PHYSICISTS HAVE KNOWN SIN."

I AM NOT AT ALL SURPRISED BY THOSE STATEMENTS.

WHEN I SAY THINGS LIKE THAT MYSELF I SAY THEM RATHER DIFFERENTLY.

THE POSITION I FINALLY CAME TO WHEN I WAS WORKING FOR EISENHOWER IS THAT MAINTAINING PEACE THROUGH THE THREAT OF MUTUAL SUICIDE IS JUST NOT AN ACCEPTABLE WAY TO GO ON INTO THE FUTURE.

>>Narrator: ALTHOUGH STRIKING PROGRESS WAS MADE IN FISSION BOMBS, THERE WAS A GREAT PESSIMISM ABOUT BUILDING THE SUPER.

CREATING A THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTION REQUIRED SETTING OFF AN ATOMIC BOMB.

STUDYING THIS PROCESS HAD ITS DIFFICULTIES.

MATHEMATICAL CALCULATIONS OF UNPRECEDENTED COMPLEXITY WERESUBSTITUTED.

BRADBURY WAS LESS THAN ENTHUSIASTIC SINCE A WORKABLE DESIGN WAS UNREALIZED.

LOS ALAMOS' RESOURCES MIGHT AS WELL BE PUT INTO FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF FISSION WEAPONS.

EARLY ON, EDWARD TELLER COULD OFFER WAS HIS TENACITY.

>>York: HIS BIGGEST CONTRIBUTION WAS FIRST OF ALL, WAS PRESSING, PRESSING, PRESSING.

HE WAS THE PERSON OUT IN FRONT INSISTING THAT THIS HAD TO BE DONE AND HE WAS THE PERSON EXPRESSING THE TECHNOLOGICAL OPTIMISM THAT SAID IF WE TRY WE CAN DO IT.

>>Narrator: WORKING INTENSELY ON THE ASTRONOMICAL CALCULATIONS, STANISLAW ULAM, SAW A "MAGNITUDE OF PROBLEMS."

TO HELP, THE HUMAN CALCULATOR, JOHNNY VON NEUMANN AND UNIVERSITY OF PRINCETON CREATEDTHE WORLD'S FIRST COMPUTER.

ITS JOB, TO HELP CREATE THE HYDROGEN BOMB.

>>Wechsler: ONE OF THE PROBLEMS WAS EDWARD, EDWARD TELLER.

WE USED TO SAY HE HAD THE BOMB OF THE WEEK.

>>Narrator: AFTER PROMISING DESIGNS, TELLER WAS STUMPED.

HE KNEW IT AND SO DID EVERYONE ELSE.

ULAMWORKING HARD ON USING ONE FISSION BOMB TO IMPLODE ON ANOTHER FOR EFFICIENCY HAD A BREAKTHROUGH.

>>Rhodes: HIS WIFE FRANCOIS DESCRIBES COMING INTO THE ROOM AT THEIR HOUSE AND SEEING HIM STARING OUT THE WINDOW INTO THE GARDEN.

AND HE TURNED TO HER AND SAID, "I'VE FIGURED OUT A WAY TO MAKE IT WORK."

SHE SAID, "WHAT WORK?"

AND HE SAID, "IT'S A REALLY DIFFERENT SCHEME, AND IT WILL CHANGE THE COURSE OF HISTORY."

>>Narrator: CAPITALIZING ON ULAM'S IDEA, PLUS THE EXPERIMENTS AT GREENHOUSE, TELLER SEIZED UPON A WORKABLE DESIGN.

RADIATION IMPLOSION WOULD BE THE ANSWER.

BRADBURY GAVE AUTHORITY TO THOSE WHO COULD GET THE JOB DONE.

TELLER WOULD NOT BE IN CHARGE OF BUILDING THE SUPER.

FRUSTRATED, RESENTFUL, TELLER LEFT LOS ALAMOS.

SOON HE WOULD WORK WITH E.O.

LAWRENCE TO START A SECOND WEAPONS LAB, THE UNIVERSITYOF CALIFORNIA RADIATION LABORATORY IN BERKELEY.

>>Agnew: YOU HAVE A LOVE - HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH TELLER.

SOME DAYS YOU THINK HE ONE OF THE GREATESTGUYS IN THE WORLD AND THE NEXT DAY YOU REALLY THINK HE IS A DEMON.

>>Narrator: THE PUSH TO BUILD UP A STOCKPILE ACCELERATED WEAPONS TESTING.

BUSTER-JANGLE INAUGURATED THE MODEL FOR TESTS IN NEVADA.

THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE CONDUCTED WEAPONS EFFECTS WHILE LOS ALAMOS CONDUCTED WEAPONS EXPERIMENTS.

TESTS CENTERED ON FISSION REFINEMENTS AND IMPORTANT FUSION DESIGNS.

AS THE KOREA CONFLICT ESCALATED, TESTING IN NEVADA BECAME ALMOST NON-STOP.

>>Wechsler: IT'S FRACTIONS OF A MICROSECOND.

NOW YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND IT TO SAY, IF THE RADIATION FLOWS FROM A PRIMARY DOWN THE AREA AROUND THE FUEL AND EVERYTHING ELSE INSTANTANEOUSLY, "HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO DO IT?"

"DO I NEED TO CONTAIN IT" OR, "IS IT JUST THE INSTANT IMPACT OF THAT RADIATION."

WELL THAT IS A REAL GOOD QUESTION.

OUR INITIAL REACTIONS WERE, YOU NEEDED TO BOTTLE IT UP LONG ENOUGH FOR IT TO WORK.

>>Narrator: THE "MIKE" TEST OF OPERATION IVY WAS THE FIRST ATTEMPT AT A THERMONUCLEAR DETONATION.

YIELDS WOULD NOW BE MEASURED IN MILLIONS OF TONS OF TNT.

MIKE WAS MORE OF A SCIENTIFIC ODDITY THANITS ATOMIC ANCESTOR TRINITY.

>>Agnew: IT LOOKED LIKE GREAT BIG RAILROAD TANK CAR STANDING ON END.

>>Narrator: A RADIO SIGNAL FROM THE USS ESTES LEAPT THIRTY MILES ACROSS THE OCEAN TO FIRE NINETY-TWODETONATORS INSERTED INTO THE HIGH EXPLOSIVES OF MIKE'S FISSION PRIMARY.

AS EACH DETONATOR FIREDWITHMICROSECOND SIMULTANEITY, AN EXPLOSIVE WAVE FORMED, IT DROVE INWARD TO COMPRESS THE PLUTONIUMCORE AND THE ATOMIC BLAST ENSUED.

MOVING MILLIONTHS OF A SECOND AHEAD OF THE FISSION FIREBALL, HOTTER THANTHE CENTER OF THE SUN, DENSE X-RAY RADIATION FLOODED RADIATION CHANNELS AND INSTANTLY CONVERTED THEPOLYETHYLENE LINING INTO A PLASMA.

THE PLASMA PUSHED THE X-RAYS INWARD.

THE URANIUM TAMPER SURROUNDING THE LIQUID DEUTERIUM INSTANTLY MELTED AND PUSHED INTO THE DEUTERIUM, HEATING IT TO FUSION TEMPERATURES.

REACTING TO THIS TREMENDOUS HEAT AND COMPRESSION WAS A PLUTONIUM ROD, AT THE CENTER OF THE DEUTERIUM.

IT IMPLODED, COMPRESSING AND HEATING THE DEUTERIUM FROM WITHIN.

ONE OF THE GREATEST PHYSICS EXPERIMENTS IN MODERN HISTORY WAS A SUCCESS!

MAN HAD SEIZED UPON THE POWER OF THE STARS AND RELEASED IT ON EARTH.

THE HUGE THERMONUCLEAR FIREBALL CREATED EVERY ELEMENT KNOWN IN THE UNIVERSE.

THE EXPLOSION WAS UNPRECEDENTED, 10.4 MEGATONS.

OBSERVERS WERE STUNNED.

A SAILOR WROTE HOME, SAYING MIKE "ROSE OVER THE HORIZON LIKE A DARK SUN."

>>Agnew: IT WAS ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC, SPECTACULAR AND SCARY.

THE SCARY PART WAS THE HEAT.

WHICH JUSTSTAYED ON.

WE GOT HOTTER AND HOTTER; WE WERE ABOUT TWENTY-FIVE MILES AWAY.

IT REALLY GOT HOT AND YOU KEPT WORRYING IS THE HEAT EVER GOING TO GET TURNED OFF.

>>Wechsler: YOU HAD TO KEEP TELLING YOURSELF, MY GOD I'M TWENTY SOME MILES AWAY AND YET IT'S RIGH THERE.

AND IT SEEMED TO BE GROWING AND GROWING AND GROWING.

>>Narrator: THE MUSHROOM CLOUD SKYROCKETED.

IN NINETY SECONDS, IT REACHED 57,000 FEET.

IN TWO AND A HALF MINUTES IT PASSED 100,000 FEET.

AFTER FIVE MINUTES, THE CLOUD CRESTED AT TWENTY SEVEN MILES, ITS STEM MEASURED EIGHT MILES ACROSS AND THE TOP BILLOWED OVER A HUNDRED MILES.

IT WAS ABOUT 1000 TIMES MORE POWERFUL THAN THE ATOMIC BOMB DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA.

>>Agnew: THEN WE WERE ALL HAPPY, VERY ELATED, SUCCESSFUL.

AND THEN ALL WE WANTED TO DO WAS COME HOME, RIGHT AWAY.

LET'S GET HOME AND WE'LL START DOING SOMETHING ELSE.

>>Rosenbluth: THERE WERE THE OBVIOUS THOUGHTS OF I CALCULATED IT RIGHT!

WE DID IT!

WE ARE AHEAD OFTHE RUSSIANS!

OTHERWISE IT IS A GREAT PITY IT DIDN'T TURN OUT TO BE IMPOSSIBLE SO YOU COULDN'T HAVE WEAPONS THIS BIG.

>>Agnew: AS TIME GOES ON, I AM AFRAID MORE AND MORE PEOPLE IN GOVERNMENT AND POSITIONS OF AUTHORITY REALLY WON'T APPRECIATE THE MAGNITUDE OF THE POTENTIAL DEVASTATION THAT OUR PRESENT NUCLEAR WEAPONS CAN INFLICT ON ANY COUNTRY OR ANY CITY.

AND I THINK THAT THE ONLY WAY THAT YOU CAN REALLY BURNTHIS INTO THEIR MINDS IS BY HAVING THEM WITNESS A LARGE YIELD THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON.

THE HEAT I THINK WILL REALLY MAKE TRUE BELIEVERS OUT OF THEM.

THAT WAR IS NOT IS NOT THE ANSWER TO ANY DISPUTE.E>>York: WHAT IS IMPORTANT ABOUT ALL THESE NUCLEAR WEAPONS IS NOT HOW THEY LOOK.

THEY LOOK SPECTACULAR!

WHENEVER YOU GO TO A PROVING GROUND, IT IS ALWAYS DONE IN A WAY SO AS TO GUARANTEE IT WILL BESAFE.

YOU SEE THE SPECTACLE, BUT SUFFER NO PAIN.

SO ITS PICTURES OF HIROSHIMA THAT TELLS YOU WHAT THESE BOMBS ARE LIKE.

>>Interpreter: (JAPANESE LANGUAGE) PEOPLE RAN TO THE RIVER SEEKING WATER, BUT IN THE WATER THERE WERE MANY BODIES FLOATING.

THERE WERE DEAD OR INJURED PEOPLE LYING EVERYWHERE.

IT WAS LIKE HELL.

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CITY WAS SO SHOCKING I CANNOT EXPRESS IT WITH WORDS.

>>Narrator: HIROSHIMA UNVEILED A PEACE PARK.

THE PEOPLE OF HIROSHIMA FIRMLY BELIEVED THE ROOTS OF PEACE COULD BE FOUND HERE.

THE PARK'S CENTERPIECE IS THE CENOTAPH.

INSCRIBED ON IT IS "PLEASE RESTPEACEFULLY, FOR WE WILL NOT REPEAT THE EVIL."

>>Interpreter: (JAPANESE LANGUAGE ) IT IS SAD FOR ME TO TELL MY STORY, BUT I THINK THAT I HAVE TOTELL MY EXPERIENCE TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE TO PREVENT NUCLEAR WAR.

SO, I AM PLEASED I HAVETHIS OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK.

>>Narrator: J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER NO LONGER HAD ACCESS OR A SAY IN THE NATION'S NUCLEAR SECRETS.

TORTURED OVER WEEKS OF TESTIMONY WHICH INCLUDED AN UNSUPPORTIVE TELLER.

THE COMMITTEE REVOKED HIS SECURITY CLEARANCE DUE TO OPPENHEIMER'S EARLY COMMUNIST ASSOCIATIONS.

THE ARCHITECT OF THE HEARINGWAS THE ULTRA-CONSERVATIVE HEAD OF THE AEC, LEWIS STRAUSS.

STRAUSS WOULD NOT TOLERATE OPPY, WHOM HE THOUGHT A SPY.

SENATOR JOSEPH MCCARTHY CONGRATULATED STRAUSS SAYING: "OPPENHEIMER'S SUSPENSION WAS LONG OVERDUE."

A REALIST AND NO PACIFIST, OPPENHEIMER SAW THE SHORT TERM NEED TO BUILD MORE BOMBS.

YET, THESELF-CONFESSED, "DESTROYER OF WORLDS" WAS UNDERGOING A REVOLUTION OF THOUGHT.

OPPENHEIMER HAD CONQUERED SCIENCE, NOW HE WAS CONQUERING HIS CONSCIENCE.

HE UNDERSTOOD THE ANSWER TO THE EQUATION OF WAR AND MODERN TECHNOLOGY.

IRONICALLY, OPPENHEIMER'S DISMISSAL OCCURRED AS NEW VOICES SOUGHT A WAY OUT OF THE GROWING NUCLEAR ARMS RACE.

>>Narrator: IN HIS FINAL STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS OF 1953, TRUMAN WARNED: "THE WAR OF THE FUTURE COULD EXTINGUISH MILLIONS OF LIVES AT ONE BLOW AND DESTROY THE VERY STRUCTURE OF A CIVILIZATION.SUCHA WAR IS NOT POSSIBLE POLICY FOR RATIONAL MEN."

TAKING THE ARMS RACE TO THE NEXT DRAMATIC STEP, THE SOVIETS EXPLODED THEIR FIRST HYDROGEN BOMB IN 1953.

THE EISENHOWER ADMINISTRATION MET THE SOVIET THREAT.

>>Eisenhower: WE MUST BE READY TO DARE ALL FOR OUR COUNTRY.

>>Narrator: WEAPONS PRODUCTION REACHED UNPARALLELED SUCCESS.

EISENHOWER WANTED TO INFORM A WARY WORLD THAT THE US WAS ALSO INTERESTED IN PEACE.

INCREASINGLY, HE SAW IT HIS DUTY TO INFORM AMERICANSOF THE CONSEQUENCES OF NUCLEAR WAR AND FELT EVERYONE WOULD SUPPORT ARMS CONTROL IF THEY UNDERSTOOD THE DANGER.

IN HIS PIVOTAL ATOMS FOR PEACE SPEECH HE WANTED TO SET A NEW TONE FOR THE US AND THEWORLD.

>>Eisenhower: THE UNITED STATES PLEDGES BEFORE YOU AND THEREFORE BEFORE THE WORLD.

ITS DETERMINATIONTO HELP SOLVE THE FEARFUL ATOMIC DILEMMA!

TO DEVOTE ITS ENTIRE HEART AND MIND TO FIND THE WAY BY WHICH THE MIRACULOUS INVENTIVENESS OF MAN SHALL NOT BE DEDICATED TO HIS DEATH, BUT CONSECRATED TO HIS LIFE."

>>Narrator: APPOINTED FIRST SECRETARY SOON AFTER STALIN'S DEATH ON MARCH 5, 1953.

NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV WAS BRIEFED ON THE GRIM FACTS OF THERMONUCLEAR NUCLEAR WARFARE.

HE SAID, " I COULDN'T SLEEP FOR SEVERAL DAYS.

WHEN I BECAME CONVINCED THAT WE COULD NEVER POSSIBLY USE THESE WEAPONS...

I WAS ABLETO SLEEP AGAIN."

IN FEBRUARY 1956, THE TWENTIETH PARTY CONGRESS CONVENED.

IT WAS MOMENTOUS.

BRAVELY, KHRUSHCHEV UNVEILED STALIN'S BRUTALITY AND BEGAN CHANGING THE BELIEF THAT WAR WITH THE CAPITALISTS WAS INEVITABLE.

ANYONE WIELDING AN H-BOMB DEMANDED RESPECT.

KHRUSHCHEV DECLARED SOVIETS FACED,"EITHER PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE OR THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE WAR IN HISTORY, THERE IS NO THIRD WAY."

>>Rhodes: KHRUSCHEV WAS A PRETTY GOOD MAN TO HAVE IN THAT POSITION AT THAT TIME BECAUSE HE HAD WASINCHARGE OF THE BATTLE IN THE UKRAINE, KIEV, HE WAS IN CHARGE OF STALINGRAD.

HE KNEW WHAT WAR WASABOUT.

>>Narrator: IF ATOMIC WEAPONS WEREN'T ENOUGH, THE ADVENT OF THERMONUCLEAR BOMBS REVOLUTIONIZED EVERYONE'S THINKING, INCLUDING POLITICIANS.

>>York: THAT IS ONE GOOD THING ABOUT NUCLEAR WEAPONS, BECAUSE IN THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE THESE DECISIONS ARE AS MUCH AT RISK AS THE SOLDIERS THEY USED TO SEND OFF TO GO FIGHTTHEIR WAR.

>>Narrator: DESPITE THESE REMARKABLE EVENTS, KHRUSHCHEV AND EISENHOWER VIGOROUSLY PURSUED MORE SOPHISTICATED NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

EACH FELT ANY SHOW OF WEAKNESS AND THE OTHER WOULD TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT.

EISENHOWER'S SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN FOSTER DULLES DREW UP A FEARFUL DOCTRINE OF "MASSIVE RETALIATION."

DETERRENCE WAS STILL THE WEAPON OF CHOICE FOR WAGING PEACE.

>>Narrator: OPERATION CASTLE USED AN INNOVATIVE DRY FUEL, LITHIUM DEUTERIDE, WHICH MADE CASTLE BOMBSLIGHTER AND SMALLER.

THE FIRST TEST, "BRAVO," WEIGHED ONLY 23,500 LBS.

WITH A PLANNED YIELD OF ABOUT FIVE MEGATONS.

IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS OF MARCH 1ST, BRAVO REDEFINED THERMONUCLEAR WEAPONS.

THEFIREBALL GREW BEYOND WHAT ANYONE EXPECTED.

>>Rosenbluth: WELL, I HAD THIS FEELING IT WAS A GREAT DISEASED BRAIN.

WHO KNOWS I HAD CONTRIBUTED,MAYBE IT WAS MY BRAIN.

IT LOOKED LIKE AN EVIL ALL-POWERFUL THING WHICH HAD CONNOTATIONS OF THE BRAIN MAYBE AS TOO MUCH SCIENCE WAS GOING TO DESTROY US ALL.

>>Narrator: BRAVO WAS A "RUN AWAY".

AT THIRTY MILES OUT, WHAT JACK SEAMAN AND THE BRIDGE CREW OF THEUSS BAIROKO SAW WAS UNIMAGINABLE.

RECOVERING FROM THE SUPER NOVA FLASH, THEY STOOD IN SILENCE.

THEYSTARED IN AWE AND HORROR AS A THICK, BLACK AND ORANGE CLOUD ROARED ACROSS THE OCEAN DROPPING BRIGHTRED FIRE.

THE QUIET OF THE BRIDGE WAS BROKEN BY A PRAYER HEARD OVER A RADIO.

IT WAS FROM THE PILOT OF AN OBSERVATION PLANE WHO HAD JUST WITNESSED THE MUSHROOM CLOUD SHOOT PAST HIS ALTITUDE OF 40,000FT.

BOB FITTON ON THE USS PHILIP SAID IT WAS "A RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE, A PERSONAL VIEW OF THE APOCALYPSE."

>>Agnew: THE REASON IT WENT HIGH IS BECAUSE WE HAD THE WRONG CROSS SECTIONS FOR THE LITHIUM.

WE DIDN'T KNOW THERE WAS AN N, 2N REACTION ON LITHIUM7.

JUST DIDN'T KNOW IT.

>>Narrator: EQUAL TO ABOUT ONE THOUSAND HIROSHIMA BOMBS, BRAVO WAS OUR MOST POWERFUL TEST YIELDINGANEXTRAORDINARY 15 MEGATONS.

ALL THE EXPLOSIVES USED IN WORLD WAR II TOTALED ONLY 2 MEGATONS.

CHANGING WIND PATTERNS AND THE SURPRISINGLY HIGH YIELD, SPREAD FALLOUT OVER 50,000 SQUARE MILES.

MARSHALLESE ISLANDERS THOUGHT TO BE SAFE RECEIVED SUBSTANTIAL EXPOSURE BEFORE EVACUATED.

FISHING WITHIN THE EXPANDED FALLOUT AREA, TWENTY-THREE MEMBERS OF THE JAPANESE FISHING VESSEL THE LUCKY DRAGONWERE DUSTEDWITH A STRANGE WHITE ASH FOR NEARLY THREE HOURS.

THE CREW RETURNED HOME, TRAVELING FOR TWO WEEKS WITH IT ON BOARD.

ARRIVING SICK WITH RADIATION POISONING, A NATIONAL OUTRAGE BEGAN.

SADLY, ON SEPTEMBER 23, CREWMAN AIKICHI KUBOYAMA DIED OF COMPLICATIONS.

HIS FUNERAL WAS ATTENDED BYOVER FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND PEOPLE.

LATER, OVER THIRTY MILLION JAPANESE, ALMOST ONE-THIRD OF THE ENTIRE POPULATION, SIGNED A PETITION TO BAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTING.

THE LUCKY DRAGON WAS ENSHRINEDINA TOKYO PARK.

IN THE PARK A STONE MONUMENT IS INSCRIBED WITH KUBOYAMA'S LAST WORDS.

THEY READ:"PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT I AM THE LAST VICTIM OF THE BOMB."

>>Agnew: I AM NOT VERY SYMPATHETIC TOWARD THEM, TODAY EVEN.

I HAD A LOT OF MY CLASSMATES WHO WERE KILLED IN THE PACIFIC THEATER.

AND OF COURSE THE WAR DEPARTMENT DURING THAT TIME SHOWED SOME OF THE ATROCITIES THAT THE JAPANESE HAD COMMITTED, THEY DIDN'T PLAY BY THE RULES.

AND SO WHATEVER, I'VEALWAYSRESENTED THIS HIROSHIMA BUSINESS THAT THEY CELEBRATE EVERY YEAR.

>>Interviewer: BUT, THIS IS TEN YEARS LATER?

>>Agnew: DOESN'T MATTER TO ME.

I'M IRISH I DON'T FORGIVE OR FORGET.

>>Narrator: INITIALLY, INDIVIDUALS INCLUDING LINUS PAULING, BERTRAN RUSSELL, NORMAN COUSINS AND CITIZEN ORGANIZATIONS WERE CONSIDERED BY THE ADMINISTRATION TO BE THE DUPES OF COMMUNIST AGENTS.

THEDOORTO THE WHITE HOUSE WAS CLOSED TO THEM.

AEC CHAIRMAN LEWIS STRAUSS, LATER BELIEVED OTHERWISE,YET STILL CONSIDERED DISSENTERS TO BE HYPOCRITES AND NAIVE.

SOON PUBLIC CONCERN BECAME CRITICAL.

FEARS OF RADIOACTIVITY POISONING THE ATMOSPHERE WERE WIDESPREAD AND CIVIL DEFENSE HELD LITTLE PUBLIC CONFIDENCE.

>>Wittner: IN 1960 IN NEW YORK CITY A GROUP OF MOTHERS TOOK CHARGE OF THE PROTEST AGAINST NUCLEAR TESTING IN CITY HALL PARK AND SOME ONE-THOUSAND TURNED OUT THAT YEAR WHEELING BABY CARRIAGES AND PROTESTING AGAINST NUCLEAR TESTING AND REFUSING TO TAKE SHELTER.

THIS PROVED TO BE THE LARGEST CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE ACTION IN AMERICAN HISTORY UP TO THAT TIME.

THE FOLLOWING YEAR SOME TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED TURNED OUT FOR THE DEMONSTRATION.

>>Eno: EVEN THOUGH WE STUMBLED AND FELL AND WHAT HAVE YOU EARLY ON, BY THE TIME WE GOT AN OPERATIONAL CAPABILITY, WE WERE AHEAD OF THEM.

WE HAD MUCH BETTER ACCURACY, DIDN'T HAVE THE THROW WEIGHT AND QUITE THE YIELD THEY HAD OPTED FOR, BUT IT DIDN'T MATTER.

I MEAN YOU CAN ONLY KILL A CITY SO DEAD.

>>Narrator: WITH RUSSIA WIELDING THE H-BOMB, THERE WAS NO HOLDING BACK.

FROM 1955 THROUGH 1958, A STABLE U.S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS INFRASTRUCTURE PUSHED AGGRESSIVELY AHEAD.

>>Bergen: ABOUT EVERY WAY WE COULD WEAPONIZE A NUCLEAR DEVICE THAT COULD THEN BE CONVERTED INTO A NUCLEAR WEAPON, WAS TRIED.

>>Rosenbluth: IT WAS PRETTY, VERY SCARY.

I MEAN THE BUILD UP CERTAINLY WENT TO NUMBERS THAT WERE ABSURDLY HIGHER THAN WAS NECESSARY FOR DETERRENCE.

>>Narrator: BECAUSE THE SOVIETS WERE TURNING OUT MISSILES "LIKE SAUSAGES" AS KHRUSHCHEV BLUFFED.

EISENHOWER WORRIED THE US FELL BEHIND THE SOVIETS IN MISSILE TECHNOLOGY.

A "MISSILE GAP" MENTALITY SPURRED ON A TREMENDOUS EFFORT IN MISSILE DELIVERY SYSTEMS ALONG WITH DEVELOPING, COMPACT, LIGHT, SPHERICAL IMPLOSION DEVICES.

OPERATION REDWING'S DAKOTA DEVICE WEIGHED ONLY 1,797LBS AND DELIVERED A 1.1 MEGATON PUNCH.

EMPHASIS ALSO TURNED TO DEFENSIVE SUCH AS WARHEADS FOR AIR-TO-AIR AND GROUND-TO-AIR MISSILES.

WEAPONS DESIGNERS WERE PERFECTING THEIR ART.

>>Eno: IN THE ULTIMATE APPLICATION, THAT IS THE INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILE, YOU'RE ONLY LIKETHIRTY MINUTES FROM ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, SO YOU'VE GOT THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE.

IF FOR SOME REASON SOMETHING HAPPENED THAT YOU DIDN'T WANT TO CONTINUE THE WAR, BOMBERS COULD BE CALLED BACK.

SO THAT WAS AN ADVANTAGE FOR THE AIRCRAFT, BUT A DISADVANTAGE FOR THE MISSILES.

I MEAN, ONCE YOU LAUNCHEDTHEM YOU WERE COMMITTED.

>>Narrator: BY 1958 THE US'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS FACILITIES OPERATED AT PEAK EFFICIENCY.

WITH A MORATORIUM BEING DISCUSSED, WEAPONS LABS RUSHED AS MANY DEVICES AS POSSIBLE TO THE TEST RANGE.

OPERATIONPLUMBBOB, PERFORMED 30 COMPONENT RELATED TESTS IN NEVADA.

OPERATION HARDTACK I HELD 35 TESTS IN THE PACIFIC TO DEVELOP MISSILES TO STRIKE DEEP INTO THE HEART OF RUSSIA.

TESTS CENTERED ON INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILES AND SUBMARINE LAUNCHED BALLISTIC MISSILE WARHEADS AND HIGH ALTITUDE, MULTI-MEGATON TESTS TO STUDY ANTI-BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSES.

THE UCRL JUNIPER DEVICE OF THE W-47 POLARIS WARHEAD WAS A DESIGN BREAKTHROUGH.

A 65 KILOTON YIELD WAS PRODUCED FROM A DEVICE MEASURING ADIAMETER OF 14", A LENGTH OF 15" AND WEIGHED ONLY 165LBS.

IN NEVADA, HARDTACK II PERFORMED 37 LOWYIELD COMPONENT TESTS HELD UNDERGROUND TO REDUCE FALLOUT.

IN HIS SECOND TERM, EISENHOWER SOUGHT TO GAIN CONTROL OF THE U.S.

BUILD UP.

IN 1970, YORK WROTE ABOUT THE STRUGGLE EISENHOWER FACED TRYING ALTER THE COURSE OF A SEEMINGLY RACE TO OBLIVION.

YORK SAID: "THE HARD-SELL TECHNOLOGISTS INVENTED THE TERM "MISSILE GAP," AND THEY EMBELLISHED THAT SIMPLEPHRASEWITH ORNATE HORROR STORIES ABOUT IMMINENT THREATS TO OUR VERY EXISTENCE AS A NATION.

THEY THEN PROMPTLY OFFERED A THOUSAND AND ONE TECHNICAL DELIGHTS.

ANYONE WHO DID NOT IMMEDIATELY AGREE WITH THEIR ASSESSMENTS OF THE SITUATION AND WHO FAILED TO RECOGNIZE THE NECESSITY OF PROCEEDING FORTHWITH ON THE DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION OF THEIR SOLUTIONS WAS SAID TO BE UNABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION AND TRYING TO PUT THE BUDGET AHEAD OF SURVIVAL.

IT SEEMED AS IF THE PURSUIT OF EXPENSIVE AND COMPLICATED TECHNOLOGY AS AN END IN ITSELF MIGHT VERY WELL BECOME AN ACCEPTED PART OF AMERICA'S WAY OF LIFE."

>>York: DURING THE TEST MORATORIUM DURING THE END OF THE EISENHOWER ADMINISTRATION AND WE WERE DISCUSSING WHETHER OR NOT THE RUSSIANS WERE CHEATING AND I SAID IN MY JUDGMENT THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT THE RUSSIANS WERE TESTING.

JOHN MCCONE SAYS THAT IS TREASON!

>>Rhodes: EVERY ONE OF THE NATIONAL LEADERS AT SOME POINT WOKE UP AND SAID TO HIMSELF WE CAN'T USETHESE THINGS.

IF YOU TRACK THE DEFENSE BUDGETS FOR BOTH OUR SIDE AND THE RUSSIANS YOU WILL SEE THAT THEY GO UP AND DOWN NOT IN COORDINATION OF CONFLICT AND CONFRONTATION, BUT IN COORDINATION WITHPUMP PRIMING WITH ECONOMIC POLICY WITH PUTTING SOME BUCKS INTO THE ECONOMY SO PEOPLE HAVE JOBS.

SO THEY KNEW.

AND I THINK THAT IS VERY SERIOUS BECAUSE THEY RISKED OUR LIVES.

>>Narrator: EISENHOWER AND KHRUSHCHEV MADE ON-AGAIN OFF-AGAIN COMMITMENTS TO A MORATORIUM ON TESTINGCREATING A REAL OPTIMISM TO BOTH SIDES.

EISENHOWER INVITED KHRUSHCHEV TO THE US.

ARRIVING IN SEPT 1959, THE VISIT WAS A SUCCESS.

EISENHOWER PROMISED A VISIT TO RUSSIA AFTER THE PARIS SUMMIT IN JUNE OF NEXT YEAR.

THERE WERE NOW REAL HOPES OF THE US AND SOVIETS SIGNING A TREATY THAT WOULD BANTESTING.ON MAY 1, 1960, GARY POWERS U-2 SPY PLANE WAS SHOT DOWN OVER RUSSIA.

KHRUSHCHEV DEMANDEDAN APOLOGY.EISENHOWER HAD NONE TO GIVE.

THE SUMMIT FAILED, THE VISIT CANCELED, THE THAW EVAPORATED, THE COLD WAR ADVANCED.

FRUSTRATED, KHRUSHCHEV FELT THE US ONLY UNDERSTOOD STRENGTH.

HE ENDED THE MORATORIUM WITH AN UNPRECEDENTED TEST SERIES INCLUDING A COLOSSAL FIFTY-MEGATON BOMB.

JFK INHERITED THE FAILED EISENHOWER KHRUSHCHEV NEGOTIATIONS AND RELUCTANTLY RESPONDED WITH OPERATION NOUGAT.

DUE TO FALLOUT, THIRTY-TWO LOW YIELD TESTS WERE HELD MOSTLY UNDERGROUND IN NEVADA.

OPERATION DOMINIC AND FISHBOWL, INCLUDED36 HIGH ALTITUDE, HIGH YIELD TESTS IN THE PACIFIC.

THOR MISSILES WERE DETONATED AT HIGH ALTITUDES, TO EVALUATE HIGH YIELD EXPLOSIONS AGAINST INCOMING BALLISTIC MISSILES.

HELD MOSTLY UNDERGROUND, IN NEVADA, 56TESTS OF OPERATION STORAX WERE RAPIDLY CONDUCTED AND INCLUDED THE LAST U.S.

ABOVE GROUND TESTS.

THEPEOPLE OF HIROSHIMA WERE ASTOUNDED BY THE EAGERNESS OF BOTH COUNTRIES CREATING ANDTESTING MORE AND MORE WEAPONS.

HIROSHIMA MAYOR HAMAI WROTE BOTH LEADERS FOR AN END TO THE ESCALATION, FEARING THE WORST.

>>York: THAT PARTICULAR TIME WAS A DAMN CRAZY TIME.

>>Agnew: DURING THE NATO YEARS WE HAD OUR WEAPONS ON GERMAN AIRCRAFT, DUTCH AIRCRAFT, BRITISH AIRCRAFT, ITALIAN AIRCRAFT, EVERYBODY WAS IN THE ACT.

RUSSIA WAS SURROUNDED.

THEN OF COURSE WE PUT IN THE JUPITERS, THORS AND ATLAS IN TURKEY, ITALY AND THE U.K. >>Narrator: BY FALL 1962, KHRUSHCHEV HAD SECRETLY PLACED NUCLEAR MISSILES IN CUBA SEEKING BALANCE.HETHOUGHT, "IT WAS HIGH TIME THE AMERICANS LEARNED WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO HAVE HER OWN LAND AND HER OWN PEOPLE THREATENED."

WITH AN ELEVEN HUNDRED-MILE RANGE, THE MISSILES COULD REACH NINETY-TWO MILLIONAMERICANS; ESTIMATES SHOWED MORE THAN HALF WOULD DIE.

ANGUISHED AS TO THE NEXT STEP, PRESIDENT KENNEDY FOUGHT A UNANIMOUS JOINT CHIEFS BENT ON A MILITARY STRIKE.

A STEP HE FELT COULD PLUNGETHE WORLD INTO A NUCLEAR NIGHTMARE.

KENNEDY SET UP A NAVAL BLOCKADE, FOURTEEN HUNDRED NUCLEAR BOMBERS WENT ON TWENTY-FOUR HOUR ALERT AND TROOPS WERE READIED.

FOR THIRTEEN DAYS THE WORLD WAS ON THE EDGE OF THE UNTHINKABLE.

KENNEDY PROPOSED A SECRET DEAL TO KHRUSHCHEV: THE U.S. WOULD NOT INVADECUBA AT ANY TIME AND WOULD QUIETLY REMOVE MISSILES FROM TURKEY.

THE TENSION WAS UNBEARABLE.

KHRUSHCHEV WAS REDUCED TOBASIC INSTINCTS.

HE TRUSTED KENNEDY AND REMOVED THE MISSILES.

KHRUSHCHEV, GRANDSTANDED, SAYING "IN ORDER TO SAVE THE WORLD... WE MUST RETREAT."

>>Rhodes: EVEN AT THE HEIGHT OF THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS, THE SOVIET UNION DID NOT GO TO NUCLEAR ALERT KNOWING THAT CURTIS LEMAY HAD EVERYTHING WE HAD IN THE AIR READY TO DROP IT ON HIS COUNTRY IFTHEYSO MUCH AS SQUEAKED.

SO GOOD NERVES: GOOD NERVES AT THE HEIGHT OF THE CRISIS WHEN HE WAS WILLING TOSUFFER HUMILIATION AND EVENTUALLY LOOSE HIS POSITION IN POWER BY RETREATING RATHER THEN RISK NUCLEAR WAR.

WE HAD GOOD LEADERS ON BOTH SIDES DURING THAT CRISIS.

>>Kennedy: BUT HISTORY AND OUR OWN CONSCIENCE WILL JUDGE US HARSHER IF WE DO NOT NOW MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO TEST OUR HOPES BY ACTION.

MY FELLOW AMERICANS LET US TAKE THAT FIRST STEP.

LET US, IF WE CAN, STEP BACK FROM THE SHADOWS OF WAR AND SEEK OUT THE WAY OF PEACE.

AND IF THAT JOURNEY IS A THOUSAND MILES, OR EVEN MORE, LET HISTORY RECORD THAT WE, IN THIS LAND, AT THIS TIME, TOOK THE FIRST STEP.

>>Narrator: THE EVOLVING WEAPON, NATIONAL DEFENSE STRATEGIES, PUBLIC OPINION: THE COMPLEX AND UNORTHODOX EQUATION FOR PEACE WAS COMING TOGETHER.

AFTER HAVING THE WORLD ON THE EDGE OF NUCLEAR ARMAGEDDON, A TEST BAN TREATY WAS FINALIZED IN MOSCOW ON AUGUST 5, 1963.

"OF UNLIMITED DURATION," IT BANNED TESTING IN THE ATMOSPHERE, UNDERWATER AND IN OUTER SPACE.

ITS ORIGINS LAY IN THE GREAT CONCERN THAT RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT WAS POISONING EARTH.

THE TREATY DID NOT BAN UNDERGROUND TESTING.

>>Bergen: I GOT TO LOOK AT THEIR SS-25S AND THEIR SS-20S WHICH ARE BOTH MOBILE MISSILES.

I TELL YOU,THEY'RE HORRIBLE.

THERE'S NO WAY WE COULD STOP OR CONTROL THOSE.

>>Wittner: IT WAS A REAL BREAKTHROUGH.

THERE HAD NEVER BEEN ANY RESPITE FROM THIS NOTION THAT ONE'S NATION WAS MORE SECURE IF ONE DEVELOPED MORE NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND MORE DANGEROUS NUCLEAR WEAPONS.AND NOW, FINALLY THERE WAS A BREAK THROUGH TOWARD ARMS CONTROL AND TOWARDS PEACE.

>>Narrator: HONORED WITH THE AEC'S ENRICO FERMI AWARD, J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER WAS STILL DENIED A SECURITY CLEARANCE.

RECEIVING THE AWARD BY NEWLY APPOINTED PRESIDENT JOHNSON, HE RESPONDED: "I THINKIT IS JUST POSSIBLE MR. PRESIDENT, THAT IT HAS TAKEN SOME CHARITY AND SOME COURAGE FOR YOU TO MAKE THIS AWARD TODAY.

THAT WOULD SEEM TO ME A GOOD AUGURY FOR ALL OUR FUTURES."

OPPENHEIMER SOON DIED OF CANCER.

THOSE CLOSE TO HIM, SAY HE DIED OF A BROKEN HEART.

>>York: THE BASIC DILEMMA OF THE 50'S AND 60'S WAS THAT WE WERE BUILDING UP OUR POWER OUR ABILITY TOPROJECT POWER AND FORCE AND DO HARM TO OTHERS WAS STEADILY INCREASING AND YET OUR NATIONAL SECURITYWAS STEADILY DECREASING.

AS MEASURED BY THE SIMPLE FACT THAT OTHER PEOPLE WERE ABLE TO DO GREATER DAMAGE TO US YEAR BY YEAR, GREATER AND GREATER.

I WAS ONE OF A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO BECAME CONVINCED THAT THERE WAS NO TECHNICAL SOLUTION.

I REACHED THAT CONCLUSION ON MY OWN.

I WASN'T THE ONLY ONE WHO REACHED IT AND I STILL FEEL THE SAME.

THAT'S THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM WITH NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE IT IS NOT THAT THERE IS ANYTHING MORALLY REPREHENSIBLE ABOUT TRYING TO DEFEND YOURSELF.

IN FACT IF WE REALLY KNEW HOW TO DO IT I WOULD SUPPORT THE IDEA.

BUT IT IS REACHING FOR A TECHNICAL SOLUTION TO WHAT IS REALLY A POLITICAL PROBLEM.

>>Agnew: I THINK NUCLEAR WEAPONS HAVE PREVENTED WAR BETWEEN THE MAJOR POWERS.

THERE IS NO QUESTIONTHAT WITH THE FORMATION OF NATO, THE BACKBONE OF NATO WAS OUR NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN EUROPE AND THAT STOPPED THE SOVIET AGGRESSION.

WHICH IF IT HAD CONTINUED SOMEBODY WAS GOING TO HAVE TO STAND UP ANDTHERE WOULD HAVE BEEN A CONVENTIONAL WAR AGAIN.

>>York: WELL, THE ACTIONS OF ALL THESE PRESIDENTS, THE WAY IN WHICH THEY WERE SUCCESSFULLY ABLE TOLIVE WITH THE DILEMMA WITHOUT ACTUALLY HAVING TO RESOLVE IT, BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T RESOLVE IT, HAS BROUGHT US TIME.

AND IF WE ARE WISE ENOUGH, WE WILL USE IT TO FIND A PERMANENT SOLUTION.

>>Rhodes: WAR REALLY HAD BEEN POSSIBLE BECAUSE OF A KIND OF PREJUDICE, THE BELIEF THERE WAS A LIMITED AMOUNT OF ENERGY IN THE WORLD TO TURN INTO HIGH EXPLOSIVES AND THAT YOU COULD ACCUMULATE MORE THANYOUR NEIGHBOR AND THEREFORE PREVAIL.

WITH THE DISCOVERY OF HOW TO RELEASE ESSENTIALLY UNLIMITED ENERGY, MATTER IS ALL ENERGY.

THAT CHANGED THE EQUATION.

SO THE PREJUDICE, TO CALL IT THAT, THAT IT WASPOSSIBLE TO PREVAIL IN WAR, WAS NO LONGER TRUE.

IT WAS NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO PREVAIL IN WAR AND THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING.

>>Eisenhower: AFTER ALL, OUR COMMON PURPOSE SHOULD BE AS ALWAYS, A JUST, UNIVERSAL AND ENDURING PEACE.

>>Wechsler: WE KEPT ON GETTING INSTRUCTIONS TO KEEP BUILDING THIS THING AND THEN THIS THING AND THENTHIS THING.

EVENTUALLY THE ANSWER WAS, HEY, WE KEPT SOMETHING BAD FROM HAPPENING FOR MANY YEARS, BUT NONE OF US EVER EXPECTED IT WOULD BE THAT LONG.

>>Agnew: WE HAVE DONE OUR JOB.

WE HAVE MAINTAINED THE PEACE FOR A LONG TIME.

>>Interviewer: SO WHAT IS GOING TO WORK?

>>Agnew: I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO WORK.

I AM EIGHTY NOW.

SO IT'S UP TO YOU YOUNG TURKS TO FIGURE IT OUT.