Truman and The Bomb. Plus: Who Controls Nuclear Weapons. The Truth about Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions. — with Author Alex Wellerstein

Guest host Joe Cirincione interviews nuclear historian Alex Wellerstein about his book The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age, revisiting the run-up to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the postwar fight between nuclear hawks and doves over who should control nuclear weapons. Wellerstein argues there was no single “decision” to use the bomb—plans were already underway under military control, Truman was largely excluded and poorly briefed, and he may not have known a second bomb was coming. After Nagasaki, Truman asserted presidential control to halt further use, motivated by horror at civilian casualties. They discuss debates over whether the bombings ended the war and Truman’s moral framing of nuclear weapons. The events of the past have clear echoes in today’s nuclear policy debates, and the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program and who is telling the truth about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

You can check out his Nuke Map at nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/.

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