The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age
President Harry Truman was perhaps the most influential American president with regards to the path of global nuclear history. Over the course of his presidential term (1945-1953), he oversaw the first (and so far only) use of the atomic bombs in war, the creation of the system of presidential unilateral nuclear use authority, the creation of the hydrogen bomb, and the build-up of the US nuclear arsenal. But this new book argues that nearly every aspect of the current understanding of these events, and his broader nuclear legacy, has been dramatically misunderstood by both the general public as well as other scholars.
Starting with a new interpretation of the events of 1945 and Truman’s specific role in them, The Most Awful Responsibility makes the argument that contrary to his reputation, Truman was perhaps the most anti-nuclear American president of the 20th century, and played an important role in establishing the non-use of nuclear weapons after 1945.
Meet our speaker:
Dr Alex Wellerstein is a historian of science and nuclear technology. He is an associate professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, in the Science and Technology Studies program in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and is currently a visiting researcher at the Nuclear Knowledges program at the Center for International Studies at Sciences Po in Paris, France.
Meet our chair:
Professor Matthew Jones is a Professor in the Department of International History at London School of Economics. His interests span many aspects of the history of British and American foreign and defence policy in the twentieth century, as well as the Cold War more generally. He also has a long standing specific interest in the end of empire in South East Asia.
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