Op-Ed: How the nuclear weapons taboo is fading and what it means for America and the world
The nuclear taboo is fading — at least at the White House. President Trump has made a point of embracing his administration’s nuclear strategy, which seeks a world with lower military spending, less intervention in foreign affairs, and a stable and safe nuclear environment, including the elimination of nuclear stockpiles.
The nuclear taboo refers to an American belief that America never wants to deploy nuclear weapons. The United States is the world’s top nuclear power, but the last time the United States tested a nuclear weapon was in 1945.
But the last time the United States tested a nuclear weapon was in 1945. It happened in July 1945 when an atomic weapon was exploded above Hiroshima, Japan, killing 500,000 people. No one ever heard of a nuclear explosion in Alaska, and only two people were killed in Mexico, one in a nuclear exchange with another country and the other from an errant bullet.
“To me, nuclear is off limits, and no one, including the president, will ever, I repeat never, ever, ever, ever mention it,” says James Schlesinger, a former under secretary of defense for policy. “It’s very dangerous. It would be a horrible thing to say nuclear weapons could be used to destroy the world.”
As with so many things, nuclear weapons have been a point of contention in American society for decades.
During his 1972 presidential campaign, Democrat and future President George McGovern had a “nuclear option” pledge — which allowed the president to withdraw nuclear weapons from the country’s arsenal in exchange for the abandonment of the first test of a hydrogen bomb. McGovern never lived up to this promise, but he made it a major issue in his campaign.
A decade earlier, in response to the 1973 Arab oil embargo, President Richard Nixon declared a war against the Arab oil embargo. That war lasted for three weeks, and during that time, he had
