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"WAR & PEACE IN THE NUCLEAR AGE" (JOHN NEWHOUSE).   Term Paper ID:24448 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Reviews 1988 work on major developments & crises in world politics during Cold War & threat of nuclear conflict.... More...

6 Pages / 1350 Words 1 sources, 3 Citations, MLA Format $24.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Reviews 1988 work on major developments & crises in world politics during Cold War & threat of nuclear conflict. Paper Introduction: In his book War and Peace in the Nuclear Age, John Newhouse addresses issues raised during the nuclear age extending from the conclusion of World War II, when America inaugurated the nuclear age by dropping the atomic bomb on Japan, through the Cold War with its indirect conflicts between the nuclear superpowers, to the present age when fear of nuclear attack has shifted to a fear of rogue states and terrorists. Much of Newhouse's book seem to center too much on ideas of questionable importance while failing to get at the real shifts in thinking that have taken place in the world as a result of the development of nuclear capability. Newhouse concentrates almost entirely on the fear generated by the idea that nuclear war was possible, and this causes him to blame nearly every conflict on nuclear tensions and to assess every conflict in terms of whether or not it might lead to Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The reaction to Sputnik and certain other incidents shows that duringthis period, the perception of the threat of a nuclear strike was raised toa high level in part as a means of driving American policy in certaindirections. Suddenly, leaders sawAmerica as falling behind, especially in the sciences and mathematics, anda push was started to improve teaching in these areas and to enroll morestudents in advanced scientific studies. Much of Newhouse's bookseem to center too much on ideas of questionable importance while failingto get at the real shifts in thinking that have taken place in the world asa result of the development of nuclear capability. Newhouse tends too easily to accept that the developmentof nuclear power changed everything in terms of waging war, when in fact itonly affected the potentia conduct of large-scale war directly and onlymade smaller wars seem as if they had more potential than they really didto become large-scale wars that again might cause a nuclear confrontation. EverySoviet success was judged in terms of how it added to the threat toAmerica. The Cold War wasunder way with two nuclear powers, and over time there would be more.Throughout the nuclear era, the threat of nuclear war seemed to be enoughto prevent it, though there were times when tensions rose to such a pitchthat even that was not certain. Its radioactive fallout affected all their countries, as did the questions it raised about nuclear power (39 ).Still, in truth the battle over nuclear power has become as heated as thebattle over nuclear weapons was at one point, and the nuclear age clearlyencompasses much more than the various bombs that were built and housedover the last four decades. President Eisenhower first articulated the"falling domino" theory of how communism might spread from one country toanother (1 ), and this idea was taken up by subsequent administrations asthey fought to keep each domino from falling under the control of the otherside, just as the Soviets sought to bring more and more territory undercommunist control. Over time, those encouraging this sort ofarms race as if it were essential became more and more marginalized frompolitical reality and less able to articulate a need for increasing thesize of our arsenal for any reason except that doing so was what we hadbeen doing since World War II and so should be continued. For theseexperts in particular, every action on the part of the Soviets was tied tothe nuclear threat, and every measure taken by the United States was alsoanalyzed in terms of how it would contribute to nuclear dominance. At thesame time, as newhouse shows, American analysts tended to place America atthe center of every equation even when this was not warranted and to do soin terms of seeing America as the target of all nuclear threats. Newhouse begins his story in the period before the dawn of thenuclear age as the United States faced the war with Japan and sought a newweapon to shorten the war. This was alsothe era when terrorism was rising around the world, with the added threatthat a terrorism group might be able to acquire a nuclear device and use itfor its own purposes. It wasalso the beginning of a time when more and more diplomatic andinternational tensions would be fueled by the response to the nuclearthreat. Americans were especially fearful of potentialnuclear power additions such as Libya and Iran. For all the concern nuclear capability has raised as to the potentialfor world disaster, it is also true, as Newhouse notes, that nuclearweapons affected the behavior of nations and actually inhibited the onsetof large-scale war: Since the end of World War II, well over a half million Americans have been killed or wounded in battle. The decision to drop the bomb was left toPresident Truman after the death of Roosevelt. Of course, the nuclear threat is his subject, but he often goesoverboard in making the nuclear threat the most important element in worldpolitics, setting it above ideology, pragmatism, and the reality of manyconflicts. Vietnam, for instance, was awar in which nuclear capability was largely irrelevant, and for all thehuffing and puffing about bombing vietnam back to the stone age, no one wasabout to do it. In discussing everything after this era,Newhouse describes the Cold War in terms of constant conflict and judgesevery political action as if the atomic threat were the governingprinciple. This was not because anyone was seriously considering using nuclearbombs in vietnam but was more because of the way wars were being shapedbecause of the tensions between the nuclear powers. Wars were now foughtalmost as surrogate wars, with the Soviets and the Chinese supporting theNorth Vietnamese and the United States the South Vietnamese, and with thewar being as much over ideological differences between capitalism andcommunism as it was a civil war with local issues. During this time, no American President ever seriously considered using nuclear weapons to shorten a war or settle a political crisis in which the interests of the United States seemed to be directly threatened (12).In the earliest period of the nuclear age, the United States was the onlynuclear power and believed that the situation would continue, but once theSoviets tested a device in 1949, that belief evaporated. Since nuclear warbetween the principals was unthinkable, surrogate wars were fought in whichsecond parties carried the banner for the principals, or at least did so ineffect if not consciously. Those concerned about thedevelopment of more bombs sought to encourage other uses for nuclearenergy, and the Atomic Energy Commission was created. Many in Washingtonbelieved that the United Stats was exclusive in having and understandingatomic energy, but this was a fantasy, as Newhouse points out severaltimes. This was the beginning of the era when leaders were to bedivided into hawks and doves, into those who sought more nuclear capabilityand those who sought disarmament and a reduction in confrontation. New York: Vintage books, 1988.----------------------- 8 In his book War and Peace in the Nuclear Age, John Newhouse addressesissues raised during the nuclear age extending from the conclusion of WorldWar II, when America inaugurated the nuclear age by dropping the atomicbomb on Japan, through the Cold War with its indirect conflicts between thenuclear superpowers, to the present age when fear of nuclear attack hasshifted to a fear of rogue states and terrorists. The book was published in 1988, just before the fall of the BerlinWall and the breakup of the Soviet Union, which gives the book a certainantiquated feel near the end as the author speculates on the course of thefuture and places great emphasis on the need for Gorbachev to remain and tocontinue his reforms: The bilateral relationship being worked out should be more important than arms control itself, assuming, of course, that Gorbachev survives (42 ).Newhouse therefore details the history of the Cold War but just misses itsend. One result of Kennedy's success was thatfor a time, the world seemed a more stable place. He gives onlyscant attention even to a major nuclear accident like Chernobyl, though,writing, Chernobyl shook every European capital. War and Peace in the Nuclear Age. Newhouse concentratesalmost entirely on the fear generated by the idea that nuclear war waspossible, and this causes him to blame nearly every conflict on nucleartensions and to assess every conflict in terms of whether or not it mightlead to nuclear conflagration, when in fact many of the conflicts of theCold War took place as they did precisely because everyone was certainnuclear war was not to be considered at all. Newhouse gives special attention to what may have been the mostthreatening moment in the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis in whichPresident Kennedy ordered all nuclear missiles removed from Cuba andchallenged Khrushchev directly by setting up a blockade to prevent theSoviets from delivering any more. Newhouse wrote at a time when the nuclear threat was beingtalked about as if it were greater than ever before, and this may have beena consequence of the Reagan era, when the Soviet Union was described as theEvil Empire and when nuclear proliferation was also taking place so thatmore countries had the capability to make a nuclear device. Work CitedNewhouse, John. Newhouse is most interested in the possibility of nuclear warand so gives little attention to other aspects of nuclear power. Eisenhower responded to fear of the Soviets with increasedobservation by spy planes, such as the U-2 flight that crashed insideRussia and so created a major diplomatic problem for the United States.Underlying many decisions was the belief that nuclear dominance wasessential and that a nuclear stalemate would lead to instability, onereason offered being that a sudden nuclear breakthrough might allow for afirst strike by the Soviets. He calls the growing knowledge in Washington that this was afantasy the end of an illusion. One element that emerges from War and Peace in the Nuclear Age is howmuch of history since World War II has been shaped by perceptions aboutnuclear potential. He certainly does not foresee the sorts of changes that were comingwithin a year. This did not mean adiminution in the rate of the production of nuclear bombs, however, and thegrowing problem of Vietnam over the next few years would only increasetensions once more. He doesnote concerns about fallout from nuclear testing in passing. When the Soviets sent Sputnik aloft, it was made to seem as ifthe Soviets had now taken control of space, when in fact they had only madea tentative step into space and controlled nothing. One important element rightly cited by Newhouse as having greatimport and influence throughout the nuclear age was the group ofprofessionals who guided nuclear policy and who developed all strategy onthe basis of the perceived nuclear threat. These professionals aresometimes referred to as the priesthood, and Newhouse sees the asencouraging an ideological and polarized debate instead of seeking toreduce tensions with a more reasoned debate on nuclear issues. Most of the attention of the world has focusedon weapons systems, though, ranging from the original atomic bomb to thebattle over Star Was technology that the Reagan administration wanted tocreate in the 198 s as a way of stopping incoming missiles, which manystill believed would come--it seemed to them to be only a matter of time.It would be valuable to have a strong analysis of the last decade to seehow reduced the threat is today and what the current stage in the nuclearage might entail and promise. This includes much of our popular culture, which in the195 s was expressed in fears of the consequences of fallout in the form ofterrible monsters that might rise from the sea, seen in movie after movie;which in the 196 s shaped the trend toward building fallout shelters in thebackyard, as if nuclear war were only a matter of time; and in the 196 sand 197 s in the spy-movie craze centering on the exploits of heroes likeJames Bond. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.