Talks about banning nuclear testing began in 1955, when the United Nations Disarmament Commission brought the United States, the U.K., Canada, France, and the Soviet Union together to talk about safer ways to conduct their tests. The idea of having verified underground testing was brought up, so nuclear fallout would not contaminate the surrounding area, but the Soviets rejected this. They were afraid that having inspections on site would allow for spies to find out they didn’t have as many missiles as they claimed they did. Eventually, the Soviets and the U.S. agreed to suspend testing from 1958-1961.
During the 60’s, Kennedy was urged to conduct more tests as the U.S. had reason to believe that the Soviets had secretly been conducting their own tests. Kennedy didn’t want to have an arms race, but rather a peace race where they could find a solution to end the conflict without the use of nuclear weapons. However, Kennedy decided to start conducting more tests in early 1962 after his diplomatic agreements failed.
It seemed like both sides would keep on testing their nuclear weapons without considering the harm that it would cause, until after the Cuban Missile Crisis. After Kennedy and Khrushchev realized that they had come dangerously close to nuclear war, they decided they needed to ease tensions. The two men reopened talks about banning nuclear tests.
In Moscow in 1963, the two sides, along with Britain, finally came to an agreement with the Partial Nuclear Test Ban treaty. The treaty prohibited nuclear weapons from being tested in the atmosphere, underwater, or in space. The test could not have radioactive debris fall outside the nation it was being tested in either. Finally, the three powers pledged to end the arms race and to end the environmental contamination caused by their weapons.
Sources: https://www.wired.com/2009/08/dayintech-0805/
https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/nuclear-test-ban-treaty
I enjoyed reading your post, and I liked how you included specific dates and expanded upon each countries’ reasoning. I find it very interesting how the concept of a “missile gap” between the United States and Soviet Union heavily influenced both countries’ decisions during negotiations. I would also like to point out that since China did not initially sign the treaty, it was able to develop and test its nuclear weapons until quite recently.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://www.britannica.com/event/Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty
It is interesting how the nuclear ban treaty corresponds with the concept of mutually assured destruction at the time. It seems like mutually assured destruction would require a significant arms buildup for both sides, yet at the same time, this treaty essentially advocates for something along the lines of the reduction of arms. I suppose that this could result from the creation of ABMs (at this time MIRVs were not invented yet), which threatened the stability of MAD, which is why both sides would be willing to pursue a reduction of arms.
ReplyDeleteI liked how your post went in depth into this issue of how the 2 powers kept building up their arsenal in fear. I think it's sad that the U.S and Russia have made 1745 nuclear tests since 1945. The uranium in those bombs could have been used for powering nuclear reactors in power plants, instead of being wasted and polluting the surrounding environment. The good news is that Russia has been selling their nuclear stockpile to the U.S , so that they can be dismantled and used as fuel in reactors which power our homes. Around 10 percent of our electricity now comes from Russia's old bombs.
ReplyDeleteSources:
https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/nucleartesttally
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/business/energy-environment/10nukes.html