Know Your Enemy

Bomb Power (w/ Erik Baker)

Dec 19, 2023

01:28:19

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Erik Baker, Harvard University lecturer, and editor at The Drift magazine joins the podcast to discuss Garry Wills' book 'Bomb Power' which explores how the development of nuclear weapons transformed US democracy, empowering the presidency and enabling secrecy, deception, and clandestine war. They cover topics such as presidential power, secrecy, the unconstitutionality of bomb power, and the president as commander in chief. They also touch on figures like Snowden and Ellsberg, and the book's profound Catholic perspective.

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Quick takeaways

The development of the atom bomb in the US centralized power in the presidency and undermined checks and balances in the government.

Secrecy surrounding the bomb led to a pervasive culture of secrecy in government operations, hindering democratic oversight and accountability.

Possessing the atom bomb gave the president unchecked authority, bypassing constitutional checks and balances and threatening democratic governance.

Deep dives

The Power of the Atom Bomb

Bomb Power explores how the development of the atom bomb transformed the US system of government, concentrating power in the hands of the president and creating a permanent state of militarization. The secrecy and executive control surrounding the bomb redefined the government as a national security state, eroding constitutional checks and balances. The book highlights the dangers of concentrating such immense power in one person and reveals the role of the bomb in perpetuating perpetual warfare and the erosion of democratic governance.

Challenges of Democratic Oversight in Secret Courts

01:21

The Importance of Individual Moral Witness and Fortitude in Challenging Structures

01:58

The use of nuclear weapons as a tool for exerting influence

01:24

Introduction

3min

Last Episode Before the Holidays and Introduction to Erik Baker and Bomb Power

3min

Exploring 'Bomb Power' by Gary Wills

12min

Exploring Leadership and Political History

2min

The Concentration of Power in the Presidency

12min

Secrecy, Clearance, and Bomb Power

15min

The President as Commander in Chief: Evolution and Implications

33min

Challenging Power and Speaking the Truth

9min

For our final main episode of 2023, we're dipping back into the Wills well to discuss Garry's under-appreciated 2010 book, Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State. Joining us is our great friend Erik Baker, lecturer in the History of Science Department at Harvard University and an editor at The Drift magazine.

In Bomb Power, Garry Wills elegantly demonstrates how the imperatives of secretly conceiving, building, and deploying the nuclear bomb fundamentally changed American democracy — massively empowering the presidency, disempowering Congress, and setting the nation on a permanent war footing. At the same time, secrecy and deception metastasized through the American system, enabling the rise of extra-judicial assassinations, coup plotting, domestic surveillance, torture, and clandestine war. "Secrecy emanated from the Manhattan Project like a giant radiation emission..." writes Wills, "Because the government was the keeper of the great secret, it began specializing in secret keeping.”

Also discussed: Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer (2023), Henry Kissinger (RIP), Bush and Obama, Snowden, Ellsberg, and the ways in which Bomb Power is a profoundly Catholic book. Enjoy!

Sources:

Garry Wills, Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State (2010)

Daniel Ellsberg, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear Planner (2017)

Barton Gellman, Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State (2021)

Archbishop John Wester, "Living in the Light of Christ's Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament," Jan 11, 2022

Erik Baker, "Daniel in the Lion's Den: On the Moral Courage of Daniel Ellsberg," The Baffler, June 17, 2023

John Schwenkler and Mark Souva, "False Choices: The Unjustifiable Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki," Commonweal, Oct 14, 2020

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