science · 31 January 1950 · 75 years ago
In 1950, President Harry S. Truman announced a program to develop the American hydrogen bomb. "I have directed ... work on all forms of atomic weapons, including the so called hydrogen or superbomb. Like all other work in the field of atomic weapons, it is being and will be carried forward on a basis consistent with the overall objectives of our program for peace and security ... until a satisfactory plan for international control of atomic energy is achieved. We shall also continue to examine all those factors that affect our program for peace and this country, security." This response followed his earlier announcement, on 23 Sep 1949, that had shocked America, "We have evidence that within recent weeks an atomic explosion occurred in the USSR."
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