Contested Terrain of Postwar Atomic Bomb Survey Reports: The British Bid for International Control and the U.S. Quest for an Official History
In: Journal of American-East Asian RelationsSearch for other papers by Atsuko Shigesawa in
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Abstract
On 29 June 1946, just a day before the first U.S. atomic test at Bikini Atoll, the U.S. and British governments released three separate reports on the effects of the atomic bomb. The same-day issuance of these reports that the British Mission to Japan, the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS), and the U.S. Army’s Special Manhattan Engineer District (MED) Investigating Group had written was not coincidental. The British government proposed a synchronized publication of the British Mission and the USSBS reports as white papers, and the U.S. government agreed. This article reconstructs the untold history behind these concurrent events. It highlights Britain’s paradoxical pursuit of international control of atomic energy and its pragmatic path toward nuclear development. Britain hoped to leverage its wartime partnership with the United States, which was moving toward a policy of nuclear monopoly, to achieve this goal. On the other hand, the anticipated authority and attention accorded to a white paper sparked confrontations in the United States—one between the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy, the other between the MED and the USSBS. Through close examination of archival materials, this article sheds new light on postwar Anglo-U.S. nuclear relations, inter-service rivalry, and contestation over public memory.
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Contested Terrain of Postwar Atomic Bomb Survey Reports: The British Bid for International Control and the U.S. Quest for an Official History
In: Journal of American-East Asian RelationsSearch for other papers by Atsuko Shigesawa in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
On 29 June 1946, just a day before the first U.S. atomic test at Bikini Atoll, the U.S. and British governments released three separate reports on the effects of the atomic bomb. The same-day issuance of these reports that the British Mission to Japan, the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS), and the U.S. Army’s Special Manhattan Engineer District (MED) Investigating Group had written was not coincidental. The British government proposed a synchronized publication of the British Mission and the USSBS reports as white papers, and the U.S. government agreed. This article reconstructs the untold history behind these concurrent events. It highlights Britain’s paradoxical pursuit of international control of atomic energy and its pragmatic path toward nuclear development. Britain hoped to leverage its wartime partnership with the United States, which was moving toward a policy of nuclear monopoly, to achieve this goal. On the other hand, the anticipated authority and attention accorded to a white paper sparked confrontations in the United States—one between the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy, the other between the MED and the USSBS. Through close examination of archival materials, this article sheds new light on postwar Anglo-U.S. nuclear relations, inter-service rivalry, and contestation over public memory.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 28 | 28 | 28 |
| Full Text Views | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 8 | 8 | 8 |
