Trump Ignores The History Of Nuclear Weapons At Our Peril

As we mark the 75th anniversary of the atomic bomb, we may be headed into a new arms race with Russia and China following President Trump’s plans to resume nuclear testing. According to a Washington Post report, the Trump administration has been holding discussions on carrying out nuclear test explosions for the first time since 1992.

This news alarmed presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who stated, “The possibility that the Trump administration may resume nuclear explosive weapons testing in Nevada is as reckless as it is dangerous.”

It’s vital that we remember our responsibility as the first nation to test a nuclear weapon to lead the world in controlling and ultimately eliminating them. In fact, this idea has been embedded in nuclear policy since the beginning.

There was a real fear that Nazi Germany would develop an atomic bomb first, and the Manhattan Project began a race during the war to make sure that did not happen. There was also increasing alarm about the potential of a postwar world with nuclear weapons in the hands of many, recognizing the inevitability of this dangerous technology eventually reaching the Soviet Union and others. Secretary of War Henry Stimson warned President Harry Truman about the danger of other nations and even rogue groups developing an atomic bomb. They knew they could not keep the knowledge of how to build the bomb a secret forever.