"We're going to drop it on you." - Truman

In my first blog, I pointed to perhaps the first documented use of the nuclear weapon as a diplomatic tool during the Potsdam conference. Today I would like to further that point, as it leads us to the beginnings of the Cold War. In an examination of the origins of the Cold War, it is important to look back to when the historically traditional means of diplomacy took the fatal shift which evolved into 'Cold War Diplomacy'. Truman's announcement of the development of the bomb(to Stalin at Potsdam) would be the first of many occasions in which the United States would turn to nuclear posturing to gain favorable terms in place of traditionally diplomacy.

Truman's hints of the bombs existence would turn into a grim reality a few days later when the atomic bomb was used on the Japanese in a cruel showing of its destructive force. Though cited as necessary to ending the war in Japan, all this did was demonstrate the power in which the United States now held in a new era of warfare. This demonstration also conveniently helped usher in the already inevitable surrender of the Japanese that would largely cut Russia out of the post war spoils by preventing them from taking credit for their part in ending the war in the pacific. Though the bomb(s) were dropped on Japan, the message was to the world, particularly to Russia - The U.S. would be the great dictator of policy in this new era. With such an effective tool, what politician with power and influence would be able to deny the urge to use a device which would allow them to be god?

If you were to answer nobody, that answer would be wrong, there was at least one man whom was a strong advocate against this new U.S. foreign policy outlook. This man was Henry Wallace, who fought Truman and his advisors tooth and nail in an effort to prevent WWIII¹, a war which with new technology was doomed to be more costly than any war that preceded it. However, even with much support, his 'peace offensive' would fail and the U.S. would stride into the cold war with clinched fist.

During Wallace's 'peace offensive', Harry Truman regularly received council from Wallace and was often time noted in agreeing with him, but cooler heads would not prevail. In 1946 in the midst of a taking anti-armament and peace advice, Truman was using the bomb to threaten the Soviets to pull out of Iran, after they over stayed a deadline pushed for by the United States. It was revealed in a times magazine article by Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson that Truman had told the Soviet Ambassador Andrei Gromyko that is the Soviet troops "...weren't out in forty-eight hours, We're going to drop it on you."² It worked, the Soviets pulled out, and for the third time in a year Truman had used the bomb as a successful tool in foreign policy. A few months later during failed negotiations of nuclear disarmament terms, the U.S. would add an exclamation point to their position in the new nuclear age with a bomb test at Bikini Atoll.

It is now very clear that perhaps the U.S. was not on the defensive against communism during the Cold War as it is traditionally taught, and perhaps that they were the aggressors in a conflict which would shape foreign policy for the next 50 years.  A policy which would be underpinned by the flash of nuclear energy. I found this very interesting video which highlights this perspective by illustrating every nuclear bomb explosion that has ever taken place on earth. It is interesting to notice patterns in which test explosion by the U.S. are often countered by test by the Russians and vice-versa. You will also notice the first 4 flashes in the video are all flashes which have been discussed in my first two post, and that those first few slow flashes eventually turn into a torrent of many thousand exclamation points by many countries.

1. Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, The Untold History of The United States (New York: Gallery Books, 2012), 199-200

2. Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, The Untold History of The United States (New York: Gallery Books, 2012), 196