Nuclear War part 2: The Final Countdown

Jun 19, 2023

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ANECDOTE

The Cobalt Bomb Anecdote

Leo Szilard imagined a 'Cobalt bomb' that would create a deadly radioactive cloud encircling the globe.
This doomsday machine inspired cultural works like "On the Beach" and "Dr. Strangelove" but was never built.

INSIGHT

Herman Kahn's Nuclear War View

Herman Kahn, dubbed the "real Dr. Strangelove," argued we should treat nuclear war as a survivable war.
His views aimed to prevent paralysis by accepting nuclear war's possibility and planning to minimize its damage.

ANECDOTE

Arkhipov Stops Nuclear Launch

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Soviet submarine officer Vasily Arkhipov refused to authorize nuclear torpedo launch.
His decision possibly prevented nuclear war during one of the tensest moments in history.

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Uncovering the hidden histories of concepts you thought you knew.

Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey pick up the story of nuclear war in the 1950s with the arrival of the H-bomb, and travel from the deadly face-off the Cuban Missile Crisis to the theory of nuclear winter and the place of nuclear weapons in a post-Cold War world.

Kennedy and Khrushchev contemplate the abyss, Ronald Reagan frets about Armageddon, and Dr Strangelove brings the twisted psychology of nuclear deterrence to the screen. Plus the dark allure of the Cobalt Bomb, the Doomsday Machine that never existed.

It’s a story of threats, war games and hair-raising close shaves. Did the strategists get it right in the end or were we just very lucky?

Listen to next week’s episode right now when you support Origin Story on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod

“In the US there was a recognition over and over by presidents stating…we know that if we fire, we get fired back on.” – Ian Dunt
“(the Cuban Missile Crisis) brought the world to the abyss of destruction and the end of mankind.” – Robert Kennedy
“Distrust almost destroyed the world” – Dorian Lynskey

Reading List:

Luis Alvarez – Alvarez: Adventures of a Physicist

Martin Amis – Einstein’s Monsters

Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin – American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

David C. Cassidy – J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century

Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi – The Worlds of Herman Kahn

Herman Kahn – On Thermonuclear War

William Lanouette – Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard

William L. Laurence – Dawn Over Zero: The Story of the Atomic Bomb

Robert Jay Lifton and Richard Falk - Indefensible Weapons

Ronald Reagan – An American Life

Jonathan Schell – The Fate of the Earth

P.D. Smith – Doomsday Men: The Real Dr Strangelove and the Dream of the Superweapon

H.G. Wells – The World Set Free

The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, by Lawrence Freedman and Jeffrey Michaels

The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski

Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production.

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