The average American possessing a basic knowledge of the history of nuclear weapons, at least to my anecdotal experience, believes nuclear weapons have been used twice since their creation, both times by the United States. The American military dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, to end World War II, within days of each other, in August 1945. This history is factually incorrect.
It is quite true that nuclear weapons have been used only twice
in war, but they have been detonated many times in testing, and the results have been devastating.
Keith M. Parsons, a professor of philosophy, and Robert A. Zaballa, a nuclear physicist, have written a concise account of the remarkable yet tragic history of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands of the Pacific. In “Bombing the Marshall Islands: Cold War Tragedy,” Parsons and Zaballa recount the fascinating events chronicling nuclear testing and the impact on those physically affected by the blasts.
The authors’ descriptions of the blasts themselves are truly frightening. One of a series of tests was named Castle Bravo, which they describe as “a stupendous blast of 15 megatons – the equivalent of the simultaneous detonation of fifteen million tons of conventional high explosive. The fireball reached four miles in diameter and excavated a crater 250 feet deep and 6,500 feet across. The mushroom cloud rose to a height of over sixty miles in less than ten minutes. The power of the blast greatly exceeded expectations.”
According to the authors, “During that time, the United States conducted sixty-seven nuclear tests on and in the vicinity of Bikini. The combined explosive yield of these events was 108 megatons – the equivalent of one Hiroshima-sized bomb detonated daily for nineteen years. As a result, some of these islands were grossly polluted with radioactive fallout and rendered uninhabitable… The beauty of basic physics is part of the story, but so are terror, suffering, and death.”
One of the reasons this book is so valuable is in its inherent fairness. The authors do not take political sides on the issue. In fact, they take care to sympathize and state the arguments for both points of view. While the testing clearly had awful effects, Parsons and Zaballa clearly explain why the United States felt the urgent need to test during the Cold War period in order to assure the survival of the United States. They write, “One view was that these weapons were purely evil and their eradication was the only hope for humanity. The opposed view was that eradication was impossible, at least at that time, and that deterrence was the best way to avoid a nuclear catastrophe.”
Describing their book as a “scholarly popular history” written for all, the authors write, “The lesson we draw is straightforward: When nuclear war is not only conceived as possible but is planned as a basic element of policy, the risks run during the period of nuclear testing are completely unsurprising.”
One physicist recorded his observation of one test. “Suddenly there was an enormous flash of light, the brightest light I have ever seen or that I think anyone has ever seen. It blasted; it pounced; it bored its way right through you. It was a vision that was seen with more than the eye. It was seen to last forever.”
The authors continue, “The initial flash may seem to last forever, but in a few seconds the explosion dims to the point where it is bearable by the human eye. The light resolves into a massive fireball, like a second sun, still intensely brilliant. Then it quickly transforms into a great column of fire, thrusting upwards at terrific speed and displaying a spectrum of terrific colors. The iconic mushroom cloud forms and rapidly rises, finally topping off miles into the atmosphere, far higher than any mountain. The devastating shockwave propagates rapidly outward from the hypocenter.”
They quote a report as stating, “It is clear that the use of this weapon would bring about the destruction of innumerable human lives; it is not a weapon that can be used exclusively for the destruction of material installations of military or semi-military purposes. Its use therefore carries much farther than the atomic bomb itself the policy of exterminating civilian populations.” The authors continue, “Because the hydrogen bomb would have no inherent limits on its destructive capacity, such a weapon could only be used to devastate vast areas and kill huge numbers of civilians.” They conclude: “Therefore, a super bomb might become a weapon of genocide.”
While residents of the islands were forced to evacuate for the testing, the authors chide the United States government for dispossessing people on the promise that humanity was being served without fully explaining the impact on their lives. Nevertheless and contrary to promises, residents almost certainly were never going to be able to return to their native lands, at least not as a safe locale.
The effects are difficult to contemplate. Upon returning to one island, “…they found that all of their traditional foods had changed. One traditional food is the arrowroot, which is a starch similar to tapioca that is obtained from the rhizomes of a local plant. After exposure to the fallout, the arrowroot died or shrank in size, and burned the moth when consumed. Other foods had changed color, which made them appear unappetizing and maybe dangerous.”
On birth defects, the authors state, “…the islanders suffered an unusually large number of miscarriages and births of children with severe defects. Some women gave birth to unformed fetuses that were not recognizably human, which midwives referred to as jellyfish babies.’” Horrible stuff.
In addition to this fascinating history, the Appendices at the back of the book actually serve as terrific primers for physics in general. It was the first time, at an author’s recommendation, that I read an Appendix first in order to better understand a book.
“Bombing the Marshall Islands” is a fascinating journey to a complex time in American and human history. This book deserves a wide readership as Parsons and Zaballa treat the subject with great knowledge and expertise, as well as sympathy and understanding.
