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The US Nuclear History: Nuclear Arms and Politics in the Missile Age, 1955-1968 microfilm collection presents an integrated record of US decision making relating to the development, production, and deployment of nuclear weapons, 1955-1968. Documents are generated from a number of sources including the US Department of State, US Department of Defense, US Air Force, US Joint Chiefs of Staff, US Strategic Air Command, the Executive Office of the President, US National Security Council, and Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Material relating to early US policy planning and decisions on thermonuclear weapons includes relevance studies by the RAND Corporation, a US non-partisan government policy guidance institution, 1952; memoranda from the Office of the White House relating to nuclear weapons stockpiles and projections, 1959; and, memoranda from the US Department of State and the Atomic Energy Commission relating to underground and atmospheric nuclear testing, 1959-62. Papers relating to nuclear weapons development, acquisition and testing include memoranda from Gen Curtis E LeMay, Commander-in-Chief, US Strategic Air Command, relating to increased budgetary needs for the proposed nuclear build-up, Jan 1956; memorandum from Gen Andrew Jackson Goodpaster, Defense Liaison Officer and Staff Secretary to the President, relating to the concept of 'massive retaliation' in the event of a Soviet first-strike, May 1956; memorandum from the US Joint Chiefs of Staff relating to emergency war plans, nuclear strategy, and preventive war, Sep 1956; memorandum from the Gen Lyman L Lemnitzer, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, relating to US doctrine on thermonuclear attack, Apr 1961; memorandum from the US Department of Defense to President John Fitzgerald Kennedy relating to scenarios for US and Soviet first-strikes, Oct 1961; memorandum from Secretary of Defense Robert Strange McNamara to the Office of the Secretary, US Army, relating to nuclear damage limitation and 'assured destruction'. Papers relating to nuclear strategy and planning include memoranda concerning the applicability of Soviet cities as targets of US nuclear attack; the US Strategic Air Command Basic War Plan, [Feb 1960]; papers relating to target co-ordination and planning for a functional Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP), 1960-1961; papers on 'war-gaming', net evaluation exercises of US capabilites in the event of a general nuclear war with the Soviet Union, including memoranda from Robert R Bowie, Director of US State Department Policy Planning Staff, concerning Soviet capabilities to inflict direct damage on the US, 1953-1967. Material relating to air, land and sea nuclear delivery systems, missile deployments, alert programs, and defence appropriations include memoranda from Goodpaster concerning Eisenhower's endorsement plans for missile program acceleration and for upgrading US Strategic Air Command capabilities, 1957; memoranda from the President's Science Advisory Committee relating to the construction of civil defence structures and missile deployments, 1958; report from the US Department of Defense, Weapons Systems Evaluation Group, reviewing US weapons systems and directly-related functions which constitute the strategic offensive posture of the US 1964-1967; press statements and memoranda from US Secretary of Defence McNamara relating to the doctine of 'assured destruction', defence appropriations, and weapons development, 1961-66; US National Security Briefings on strategic intelligence, Soviet capabilities for strategic attack, anti-missile and air defence, and economic trends, 1963. Papers relating to nuclear strategy, planning, weapons and delivery systems in the European theatre include reports regarding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's strategy for nuclear war, 1954-1969; the deployment of Chrysler 'Jupiter' PGM-19 IRBMs in Western Europe; the establishment of the Douglas 'Thor' PGM-17 IRBM program in Great Britain, 1956-1963; the escalation of US-Soviet hostilies in Berlin, 1961; reports concerning British co-operation with with US Strategic Air Command; speech by US Secretary of State McNamara, in Athens, Greece, relating to US assurances to its European allies in the event of a general war, 1962. Papers relating to nuclear warning and defence include reports from the US Department of State concerning the immediate construction of a Distant Early Warning (DEW) system in Canada and Alaska, 1952-1953; reports from the President's Science Advisory Committee, including studies of civil defence measures in the event of a nuclear attack, 1957-1958; reports from the US Department of State regarding the construction of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) in the United Kingdom, 1958; memoranda from the North American Aerospace Command (NORAD), relating to nuclear pre- emption and tactical warnings, 1958-1959; reports from the President's Science Advisory Committee's Anti-Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Panel, 1958-1959; papers from the President's Science Advisory Committee and the US Department of Defense relating to the construction and deployment of Bell Laboratory Nike-Zeus and Nike X Anti-Ballistic Missiles (ABMs) in the US, Canada, and Western Europe, 1959-1968.

Microfilm copies of official US government reports and US military, scientific, academic and policy journals relating to nuclear weapons, arms control, weapons technology, deterrence, nuclear strategy, and US foreign policy, 1919-1995. The reports have been arranged chronologically and include material relating to non-proliferation treaty safeguards; civil defence in the United States; deterrence theory; analyses of the Soviet Military Industrial Complex; interview transcripts of US government officials associated with weapons systems development and deployment; qualitative and quantitative analyses of the US-Soviet arms race; analyses of the theory of flexible response; nuclear capabilities of the People's Republic of China; North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) missile warning systems, 1968-1981; the Joint Cruise Missiles Project, 1982; the Tonopah Test Range technical manual, 1982; the planning of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) nuclear deterrent for the 1980s and 1990s; French and British nuclear forces in the 1980s and 1990s; the evolution of US and NATO tactical nuclear doctrine and limited nuclear war options, the Strategic Defense Initiative Program (SDI); trends in anti-nuclear protests in the US; US National Security Policy, 1980s; the threat of nuclear terrorism; the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty; anti-satellite weaponry; the threat of biological and chemical weapons. Official US government reports include report to the US Congress relating to stockpile reliability, weapons re-manufacture, and the role of nuclear testing, 1987; report to the US Congress on the Strategic Defense Initiative, 1989; Nevada Test Site Annual Site Environmental Report, 1989; report on the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START), including the text of the treaty and a number of related documents and protocols, 1991; the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations, 1993; the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency report to the US Congress, 1994; US Department of Energy reports relating to the disposal and storage of fissile materials, 1995.

Public Statements by the Secretaries of Defense, 1947-1981 are microfilmed copies of official statements, press releases, speeches, announcements and memoranda released by successive US Secretaries of Defense, 1947-1981. Compiled by the US Department of Defense at the Pentagon, Washington, DC, the material reflects US government national security concerns during the height of the Cold War. Arranged chronologically, the series includes statement before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee regarding the European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan), 1948; statement before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives on aid to Greece and Turkey, 1948; memoranda relating to Civil Defense Planning, 1948; statement on biological warfare potentialities, 1949; statements relating to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 1949-1981; remarks at the unveiling of the memorial to British FM Sir John (Greer) Dill, 1950; testimony relating to the military situation in the Far East and the Balkans; statements relating to the Mutual Security Pact, 1952 and the Mutual Security Program, 1953; statement regarding the deployment of nuclear weapons for air defence, 1957; statement before the Senate Committee on Armed Services relating to satellite and missile programs, 1958; testimony regarding the Foreign Assistance Act, 1962; press conferences relating to the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962; joint statements with Gen Maxwell Davenport Taylor, Chairman, US Joint Chiefs of Staff, relating to the situation in the Republic of Vietnam, 1963; press conference regarding Gulf of Tonkin 'incident', 1964; statement regarding the appointment of Gen William Childs Westmoreland as Commander, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, 1964; press releases relating to the increased commitment of US ground troops to Vietnam, 1966; testimony regarding US operations in Cambodia, 1970; press conferences relating to US-Soviet Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) tests, 1970; statements regarding US arms sales to Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, 1974; statements regarding the fall of Saigon, Republic of Vietnam, to the North Vietnamese Army, Apr 1975; testimony relating to nuclear technology, including the Minuteman II nuclear missile, 1976; statements regarding Stealth technology and its application, 1980.

Cinefilm of preparations for atomic bomb tests, Christmas Island, 1958.

Papers relating to his work at SHAPE, 1953-1955, dated 1953-1955 and 1957, comprising 'Some brief thoughts on problem of co-ordination of progress in study of the tactical use of the atom bomb', draft text by White, Sep 1953; draft of directive from Supreme Allied Commander Europe to Commanders-in-Chief concerning the future form of land battle in Europe, 1954; typescript notes on 'The philosophy of the future land/air battle' written by White for FM Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein and of Hindhead, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Jun 1955; unsigned typescript 'Notes for discussion between Marshal Juin and Field Marshal Montgomery' on 24 Aug 1955, relating to the organisation of NATO land forces; 'Memorandum on the economics of Western defence' by Montgomery, dated 1955; 'Organisation for war in modern times', text of lecture to Royal United Service Institution by Montgomery, 12 Oct 1955; texts of Montgomery's final addresses to staff of SHAPE exercises CPX 5 and CPX 7, mainly concerning international organisation for future war, 1955 and 1957.