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Cardinal Choices Gregg Herken

Cardinal Choices By Gregg Herken

Cardinal Choices by Gregg Herken


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Summary

This book is a history of the complex relations between scientific advisors, primarily physicists, and U.S. presidents in their role as decision makers about nuclear weapons and military strategy.

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Cardinal Choices Summary

Cardinal Choices: Presidential Science Advising from the Atomic Bomb to SDI. Revised and Expanded Edition by Gregg Herken

This book is a history of the complex relations between scientific advisors, primarily physicists, and U.S. presidents in their role as decision makers about nuclear weapons and military strategy. The story, unsurprisingly, is one of considerable tension between the experts and the politicians, as scientists seek to influence policy and presidents alternate between accepting their advice and resisting or even ignoring it. First published in 1992, the book has been brought up to date to include the experiences of science advisors to President Clinton. In addition, the texts of eleven crucial documents, from the Einstein-Szilard letter to President Roosevelt (1939) to the announcement of the Strategic Defense Initiative by President Reagan (1983), have been added as appendixes.

Cardinal Choices Reviews

This is an important book. . . . One strength of the work is its thoroughness in tracing the steps at which science advice has influenced momentous decisions. Another is how it delineates the gradual erosion in the impact of science advice. . . . There are many other lessons to learn from reading the book carefully, and I strongly recommend it. -- Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky * Physics Today *

About Gregg Herken

Gregg Herken is Historian and Curator at the Space History Department of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Table of Contents

Part I. Urgent Appeals, 1939-1952: The Advent of Nuclear Weapons: 1. A closely knit group of people: the decision to build the atomic bomb 2. No acceptable alternative: the decision to use the atomic bomb 3. Necessarily an evil thing: the debate over the H-bomb 4. A point of no return: the opportunity for a nuclear 'standstill' Part II. Fragile Hopes, 1953-1960: The Impetus Towards Arms Control: 5. Racing toward catastrophe: atoms for peace and war 6. An age of danger... from the Killian report to Sputnik 7. A vested interest in this field: the President's science advisory committee and the test ban Part III. Guarded Futures, 1961-1988: The Perils and Promises of New Technology: 8. 'Where a fresh start is badly needed: politics and science in the Kennedy administration 9. A nation cannot be built with gadgets: Johnson, Hornig, and the Vietnam war 10. No longer as adviser but as citizen: the crisis of science advising under Nixon and Ford 11. We want you to know of our judgment: science and conflict in the Carter administration 12. The president doesn't care about wavelengths: the Reagan revolution and the origins of SDI Conclusion: speaking the truth to power Appendixes notes Bibliography Index.

Additional information

CIN0804737703A
9780804737708
0804737703
Cardinal Choices: Presidential Science Advising from the Atomic Bomb to SDI. Revised and Expanded Edition by Gregg Herken
Used - Well Read
Paperback
Stanford University Press
20000901
376
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book. We do our best to provide good quality books for you to read, but there is no escaping the fact that it has been owned and read by someone else previously. Therefore it will show signs of wear and may be an ex library book

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