atom for peace essay with quotations

Distillations magazine

Atoms for peace: the mixed legacy of eisenhower’s nuclear gambit.

Following World War II, President Dwight Eisenhower attempted a risky balancing act between war and peace, secrecy and transparency.

atom for peace essay with quotations

On the cold, rainy morning of July 16, 1945, a group of scientists and soldiers gathered in New Mexico’s Jornada del Muerto desert. Atop a 100-foot steel tower they had placed a large metal ball studded with plugs and wires. The “gadget,” as they called it, was a code word for their secret weapon. Inside it sat another globe made of high explosives, and inside that was a core of subcritical plutonium. This device was the first nuclear explosive, a prototype bomb built to end a war.

The atomic age began with a bang: the great mass of humanity first knew a threshold had been crossed when it witnessed the incineration of two cities. But the newly harnessed atom had a peaceful aspect as well. Not just a global sword of Damocles, it could also be, as Walt Disney later put it, “our friend, the atom.” Nuclear technology could advance medicine and agriculture. It could, as envisioned by Lewis Strauss, chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), provide the world with energy “too cheap to meter.” If J. Robert Oppenheimer and his Promethean colleagues had given mankind the means for species suicide, maybe they had also provided a means of salvation.

Dwight Eisenhower was a military man, a former World War II commander drafted into a presidential campaign. He entered office in 1953 as the first chief executive elected after the advent of the bomb, when both scientific and governmental authorities had just begun to grapple with its ramifications. Eisenhower recognized how the world of war had changed. That December, in a speech before the United Nations, he said, “I feel impelled to speak today in a language that in a sense is new—one which I, who have spent so much of my life in the military profession, would have preferred never to use. That new language is the language of atomic warfare.”

atom for peace essay with quotations

But in that same speech Eisenhower proposed another vision: the peaceful, controlled distribution of nuclear technology to all the countries of the world. In exchange for the potentially life-changing knowledge, countries would agree not to pursue atomic weapons. In outline it was a simple plan but a revolutionary one; it was, as Eisenhower put it, an attempt to ensure “this greatest of destructive forces can be developed into a great boon for the benefit of all mankind.”

Atoms for Peace, as the program came to be called, appeared simple on its surface, yet it evolved from a complex constellation of motives and objectives. It was neither wholly utopian nor baldly pragmatic. The program was in many ways a product of its time, but even today we face the consequences of those early decisions.

The Martial Atom

When President Franklin Roosevelt died in early 1945, his successor, Harry Truman, knew nothing about the Manhattan Project, then in the final stages of developing the atomic bomb. In his diary he described it as “the most terrible bomb in the history of the world,” likening it to “fire destruction” found in biblical prophecy. Truman ultimately made the decision to use the fruits of Oppenheimer’s work in Japan.

For Truman the weapon was a secret revealed only once he had risen to the most powerful position in the country. Likewise, the bomb was a revelation for the public and the U.S. Congress, whose members quickly scrambled to comprehend and control this new technology after the war’s end. The scientists and military men, having worked on it for years, had a head start on the politicians and the public when it came to understanding the new era they had birthed. Consequently, those already in the know drove much of the early debate.

During the war nuclear knowledge was a closely held secret, one cultivated by the scientists but ultimately controlled by the military. Many of the scientists involved with the Manhattan Project bristled under that authority; others, particularly Oppenheimer, saw their duty as merely to produce the technology, leaving political and military decision making to those in charge. But these scientists knew their work would become public one day, and they had begun to think through the ramifications of a nuclear world.

One crucial question was whether the United States and its allies could maintain a nuclear monopoly, and if so, for how long. Some strategists saw the bomb as a hard-won advantage, one the Soviets would take years to match. These planners estimated the Soviet Union wouldn’t have its own nuclear weapons for a generation. Others recognized the bomb as a piece of technology—applied scientific knowledge—unlikely to remain secret for long. (The question of nuclear monopoly became moot in 1949 when the Soviets, thanks to a combination of scientific talent and espionage, detonated their own nuclear weapon.)

Deciding who ultimately controlled the bomb defined early attempts at regulation, such as the May-Johnson bill of late 1945. The bill, produced almost entirely by Truman’s advisers, compelled many scientists to voice opposition to military control of the technology. Opposition grew largely out of the belief that during peacetime, control of nuclear technology—particularly atomic weapons—should reside in the hands of civilian leaders. Yet even those in favor of civilian control agreed that “security” meant “secrecy” and that it was best to keep other countries from developing nuclear technology. The debate turned on which group could better maintain nuclear secrecy: civilians or the military.

During the war nuclear knowledge was a closely held secret, one cultivated by the scientists but ultimately controlled by the military.

In the face of such scientific criticism the May-Johnson bill withered in committee, replaced with a more civilian-focused proposal. The debate culminated on August 1, 1946, with the passage of the Atomic Energy Act, which established the AEC, the civilian body that would control nuclear information. The law also created a unique legal category: that of “restricted data.” Any information related to atomic weapons, the production of nuclear material, or nuclear energy would be “born classified.” Such data was so important to national security, the thinking went, that it would be preemptively classified and shared only with the commission’s approval. That effectively froze out allies of the United States, including Canada and the United Kingdom. Both had contributed knowledge and manpower to the Manhattan Project and had received wartime promises that the technology would be shared.

But Congress granted the AEC unprecedented regulatory powers for developing, producing, and controlling atomic energy in all its forms, while imposing its own strict controls. In addition to the technology-transfer freeze and the blanket secrecy of the “born classified” category, the FBI would have to closely vet scientists and contractors accessing AEC information. (In one of the era’s sad ironies Oppenheimer himself was stripped of clearance in 1954 over suspicions he was sympathetic to Communism.) The AEC took over the development of the U.S. atomic arsenal; research took place in government-owned labs and was tightly controlled by the commission. Congress had given the AEC the power to shape the world’s postwar atomic future—largely in secret—and that’s exactly what it did.

The Peaceful Atom

A week after Eisenhower’s election, on a foggy, sodden morning, he arrived at the clubhouse of the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. There the president-elect was met by Roy B. Snapp, the secretary of the AEC. Snapp wore a gun, a requirement given the sensitive information he carried: a memorandum detailing the current state of U.S. nuclear technology. He was to brief Eisenhower on its contents, then burn the document.

In the half-dozen years since the AEC’s inception the atomic world had changed dramatically. Though tasked with developing peaceful as well as military nuclear technology, most of the AEC’s early work involved weapons research. In 1948 it began testing new designs on Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Ocean; the tests led to a growing stockpile of nuclear weapons. The following September, however, the Soviet Union detonated its own nuclear device. In response the AEC starting building a more powerful thermonuclear weapon, often called a hydrogen bomb because part of its energy comes from the fusion of hydrogen; this project became one of the largest in U.S. history, involving several years and several billion dollars spent at research facilities across the country.

When Snapp met with Eisenhower, he revealed to the president-elect that the project had succeeded. On November 1, 1952, the United States had detonated the first full-scale thermonuclear device. The blast was equivalent to 10 million tons of TNT—500 times as powerful as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Elugelab Island, where the new hydrogen bomb had been tested, was vaporized, leaving only a watery crater 1,500 yards across.

The news troubled Eisenhower. The failure to internationalize nuclear technology—as some scientists had hoped to do—had started an arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Eisenhower, the former general, understood the strategic necessity of a nuclear arsenal but saw no need “for us to build enough destructive power to destroy everything.” He didn’t fear the Soviets or their arsenal, but he worried that as atomic bombs became cheaper and more prevalent, they might be viewed as just another conventional weapon waiting to be used. The deadlier hydrogen bomb only worried him more.

Eisenhower had come to the meeting with ideas of his own, particularly about atomic energy. Charles A. Thomas, president of the Monsanto Chemical Company, had suggested to Eisenhower a larger role for private industry in developing nuclear-power plants; the AEC, some industrialists felt, had not done enough to successfully commercialize nuclear power. Eisenhower, believing that government should allow private industry to carry out economic policy wherever possible, was inclined to agree.

So President Eisenhower entered office with his own beliefs about atomic secrecy. Early in his term he launched Operation Candor with the express goal of explaining to the American public the risks and rewards of the atomic age. The administration attempted to balance secrecy with transparency, as Eisenhower recognized the tactical advantage of keeping the Soviets guessing but saw the nuclear question as about more than just weaponry.

atom for peace essay with quotations

Operation Candor may have represented an evolution in political thinking, but Eisenhower was ready to make an even more serious break with the past. On December 8, 1953, he went before the U.N.’s General Assembly to give a 20-minute speech. He began by warning that nuclear technology would only grow cheaper and that atomic weapons would become available to more countries, possibly all of them. Devastating surprise attacks, he cautioned, would become a possibility. Yet he also spoke of redirecting nuclear research to peaceful ends. He proposed an International Atomic Energy Agency that would collect, store, and distribute fissionable materials—a responsibly managed “uranium bank.” He described in glowing terms the future prospects of nuclear power. Finally, he pledged the United States’ “determination to help solve the fearful atomic dilemma—to devote its entire heart and mind to find the way by which the miraculous inventiveness of man shall not be dedicated to his death, but consecrated to his life.” As his speech concluded, the delegates broke into applause.

Why had Eisenhower broken so completely with Harry Truman’s strategy of U.S. control and secrecy? In some ways he hadn’t. In 1946 Truman asked the U.S. Department of State to develop an international control plan for fissionable material; the resulting report declared fissionable material produced by atomic power could too easily be diverted to military use. But by late 1953 the Soviets had their own atomic arsenal and even a hydrogen bomb. Truman’s strategy of clamping down on nuclear knowledge hadn’t worked. The nuclear arms race was well under way. The United States would continue to participate in the race, while also reassuring its European allies that it didn’t intend to provoke a nuclear apocalypse. Eisenhower’s canny strategy emphasized the atom’s peaceful uses while allowing development of atomic weapons of even greater destructive power. Atoms for Peace was, like virtually all politics, intended partly as a propaganda maneuver.

[Eisenhower] didn’t fear the Soviets or their arsenal, but he worried that as atomic bombs became cheaper and more prevalent, they might be viewed as just another conventional weapon waiting to be used.

But this propaganda was more than mere words. Within a year the U.S. Atomic Energy Act was revised: the United States would now provide nuclear-power technology to countries that pledged not to develop nuclear weapons. Much in the way the atom had been split, American policy makers tried to split the military and peaceful uses of nuclear technology, and with equally world-changing results. The United States began training foreign scientists; it declassified reams of nuclear research; it sponsored nuclear reactors worldwide and provided allies with fissionable material. It was a remarkable shift from the preceding years of secrecy, one designed as a show of America’s leadership and peaceful generosity, contrasted with the Soviet’s bellicosity. The name itself, Atoms for Peace, could be considered a kind of preemptive strike aimed at winning hearts and minds before the Soviet Union could introduce a similar program.

In just a few years the U.S. nuclear strategy shifted from near-absolute secrecy to that of remarkable openness. And while they understood the risk of this change, U.S. policy makers believed they could manage it. They enacted safeguards designed to cleave peaceful use from military development and monitored the movement of nuclear materials. They rejected requests for assistance from countries deemed untrustworthy or disingenuous.

With hindsight it is easy to recognize how authorities overestimated both their judgment and their capability. India provides an illuminating case study: after lobbying hard for assistance, in 1955 it was the first country to receive nuclear material under the program. On May 18, 1974, the message reached New Delhi: “The Buddha is smiling.” India had detonated its first nuclear device, 350 feet beneath the desert. A Canadian-supplied reactor provided easily diverted plutonium for the effort, while Atoms for Peace had helped train India’s nuclear scientists. Homi Sethna, who would later become chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission, declared, “I can say with confidence that the initial cooperation agreement itself has been the bedrock on which our nuclear program has been built.” The test enraged Pakistani officials, who committed themselves to developing a nuclear arsenal with their own Canadian reactor and Atoms for Peace–trained scientists.

While critics can use such cases to label Atoms for Peace a naïve failure—a project that actually increased the proliferation it sought to curb—doing so means neglecting the program’s positive effects. Following Truman’s untenable position of absolute secrecy (spurred by estimates that the Soviet Union would take a generation to develop its own nukes), Atoms for Peace established the groundwork for future international nonproliferation efforts. It made possible regulated trade in nuclear technology and materials with accompanying safeguards. Out of it arose the International Atomic Energy Agency, which remains the global body for monitoring nuclear proliferation. As weapons-proliferation expert Peter R. Lavoy notes, “Indeed, the 1968 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty can be seen as a refined, negotiated expression of Atoms for Peace and follow-on efforts by the Eisenhower administration.”

With Operation Candor, Eisenhower had sought to describe the nuclear situation to the world; with Atoms for Peace he prescribed a new regime, one based on transparency rather than secrecy that acknowledged the nuclear threat while envisioning the “peaceful atom.” We are still wrestling with the downside of the atomic age, as news headlines describe secret nuclear-weapons programs in Iran and North Korea and the radioactive aftereffects of a tsunami-battered nuclear-power plant in Fukushima, Japan. Eisenhower likely would have recognized the complexities of such a world as ours. Despite accusations that Atoms for Peace was hopelessly idealistic, it appears in hindsight to be a pragmatic, if imperfect, strategy. Eisenhower knew the bomb would be around for a long time and that we would continue to struggle in its shadow. He ended his presidency with a speech acknowledging as much: “As one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization, which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years—I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight.”

Jesse Hicks is a freelance writer who has taught in the Science, Technology, and Society Program at Pennsylvania State University.

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Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace speech on nuclear dangers has important lessons even after 70 years

atom for peace essay with quotations

Lecturer in History, University of Glasgow

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Seventy years ago, on December 8 1953, US president Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered a speech to the United Nations general assembly, setting out his concerns about “atomic warfare”.

In the speech, later known as Atoms for Peace , he outlined a plan for new forms of international cooperation around nuclear technology, calling for “lasting peace for all nations, and happiness and well-being for all men”.

In 2023, nuclear technology has been very much in the headlines, from the potential of nuclear threats during the war in Ukraine to cinematically capturing the history behind the first atomic bomb in Oppenheimer .

The speech is largely forgotten but it fundamentally shaped the nuclear world we live in today, and remains highly relevant to how decision-makers engage with such cross-border developments as generative AI . For all their differences, when they were created both nuclear reactors and AI represented newly emerging technologies that “spurred a global race for dominance”, fundamentally challenging existing systems and with potential for both peaceful and military uses.

Why the speech happened

In 1953, eight years after the second world war, an armistice concluded the Korean War (1950-1953) but the wider cold war was characterised by an accelerating nuclear arms race. US nuclear technology was under tight control , restricting any exports, even to wartime allies.

Nuclear reactors mainly created fuel for warheads. The first power plants and first nuclear submarines were only just being constructed.

Eisenhower’s speech, and the US Atoms for Peace programme that followed, completely changed this, proposing a sharing of technology and nuclear material with different countries. There was wide dissemination of Eisenhower’s words beyond the UN.

Hundreds of thousands of pamphlets of the speech were sent out, printed in ten languages. US and foreign media were inundated with information and advertising .

Public spread of ideas

One of the speech’s public legacies was encouraging wider public engagement with the idea of what “nuclear” actually was. This inspired new popular culture and educational materials promoting ideas of atomic-powered futures, such as the iconic Walt Disney 1956 science book and TV programme Our Friend the Atom .

Eisenhower’s speech called for a UN-based International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ), eventually founded in 1957, promoting peaceful nuclear use while discouraging weapons proliferation. It remains a crucial international entity in nuclear verification, nuclear safety, and promotion of peaceful uses of nuclear technology , most recently through activities such as monitoring the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant during the Ukraine war.

Paradoxically , however, Atoms for Peace also had opposite effects. The reactors and technical expertise, supplied for civilian energy or research, provided crucial foundations for proliferation.

The tools and knowledge were repurposed by some countries to develop their own nuclear weapons, including, in the first instance, India and Pakistan . Israel is widely believed to have benefited, although it continues to deny it has nuclear weapons.

One of the speech’s most visible impacts was in signalling, both to domestic and international audiences, a significant change in US policy towards supplying other nations with nuclear science.

It paved the way for the restrictive US Atomic Energy Act to be revised the following year, to allow sharing of technology and building of reactors in different countries. This significantly increased global development of nuclear power and nuclear research in areas from agriculture to medicine .

However, it’s worth remembering that Atoms for Peace took place in parallel with a wider US cold war strategy of pursuing nuclear superiority. Just over a month before his UN speech, Eisenhower approved a significant expansion in America’s nuclear arsenal.

Warhead numbers increased from around 1,100 to more than 18,000 during his presidency. He also considered the potential use of nuclear weapons in conventional conflicts .

Peaceful shared plans

Eisenhower also tried to set up an international uranium bank , with US and Soviet joint contributions from their stockpiles of “normal uranium and fissionable materials ”. These would be contributed to a pool, shared with other countries for peaceful purposes, both to help restrict the arms race and “provide abundant electrical energy in the power-starved areas of the world ”.

However, this bank was never created , partly because of Soviet concerns that it would continue to allow US leadership of nuclear weapons technology. Instead, bilateral agreements were struck to supply nuclear energy and materials.

Unfortunately, spreading “peaceful” technology, supplying nuclear reactors and material for energy and civil research, became a cold war and commercial “ weapon ”, aiming to tie uranium and technology exports to fulfilling conditions or continued dependence on the selling countries to supply fuel.

Read more: Are small nuclear reactors the solution to Canada’s net-zero ambitions?

Ironically, this echoed one US fear which had helped motivate Atoms for Peace: the prospect of the Soviet Union sharing nuclear energy as a way of influencing other countries and creating alliances.

These developments are particular relevant today. Russian attacks on Ukraine’s nuclear power plants during the current war have received much attention, but what is less well known is Russia’s nuclear energy empire, with contracts and construction spanning 54 countries.

This has remained “largely below the sanctions radar ”, while remaining a significant source of international influence for Russia.

Nuclear’s reach today

As of November 2023 , approximately 10% of the world’s energy was supplied from more than 400 nuclear reactors, while 40 million nuclear medical procedures are performed each year , using radioactive materials to diagnose or treat different diseases.

In 2023, policymakers continue grappling with related nuclear issues, whether proposals for new small modular nuclear reactors , nuclear power in space , debates around potential for nuclear power in addressing climate change or fears of new nuclear arms races .

Faced with such challenges, Eisenhower’s words : “If a danger exists in the world, it is a danger shared by all; and equally, that if hope exists in the mind of one nation, that hope should be shared by all” seem as relevant today, as they did in 1953.

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Understanding the legacy of the “Atom for Peace” speech

What to expect from this article: (4 minutes read)

  • Get a reminder about the context of the "Atom for Peace" speech
  • Learn about the main positive consequences and the shortcomings and of the speech
  • Find resources to go further

An unprecedented and threatening context:

atom for peace essay with quotations

The Atom for Peace symbol [1]

"I feel impelled to speak today in a language that in a sense is new, one which I, [...] would have preferred never to use. That new language is the language of atomic warfare." -President Dwight D. Eisenhower

In 1953, atomic power is not exclusive to the United States anymore. The Soviet Union already tested several nuclear bombs. Among them, at least one thermo-nuclear bomb [2].

President Dwight D. Eisenhower is conscious of both the dangers and promises of atomic power. On one hand, he acknowledges the increasing risk of nuclear proliferation and the threat of mutual destruction from atomic warfare. On the other hand, he recognizes the immense potential of peaceful use of nuclear energy.

As such, in his speech, the president declares:  "...the United States pledges before you, and therefore before the world, its determination to help solve the fearful atomic dilemma - to devote its entire heart and mind to finding the way by which the miraculous inventiveness of man shall not be dedicated to his death, but consecrated to his life." -President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Positive consequences of the speech:

1) Creation of international agreements

"The governments principally involved [...], should begin now and continue to make joint contributions from their stockpiles of normal uranium and fissionable materials to an international atomic energy agency [...].

The more important responsibility of this atomic energy agency would be to devise methods whereby this fissionable material would be allocated to serve the peaceful pursuits of mankind."  -President Dwight D. Eisenhower

The "Atom for Peace" speech described the framework for the creation of several international treaties and agencies. Among them, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear weapons. The IAEA never became a weapon-grade materials bank, but still had a tremendous effect on non-proliferation and the development of peaceful nuclear energy (learn more in [4]).

2) Development of peaceful nuclear

"The United States knows that if the fearful trend of atomic military build-up can be reversed, this greatest of destructive forces can be developed into a great boon, for the benefit of all mankind."-  President Dwight D. Eisenhower

This speech led to the creation of a multitude of peaceful nuclear programs across the world, benefiting mankind in energy production, medicine, and many other fields [5].

3) Democratization of the discussion around nuclear power

"If the peoples of the world are to conduct an intelligent search for peace, they must be armed with the significant facts of today's existence." - President Dwight D. Eisenhower

After this speech, atomic power ceased to be exclusively a secret matter of the state to become a global challenge for every citizen of the world. The Atom for Peace program launched soon after supported the development of nuclear research to civilians and countries that did not have previous access to nuclear power.

Shortcomings of the speech

1) This speech did not prevent the nuclear arm-race that followed.

"...two atomic Colossi are doomed malevolently to eye each other indefinitely across a trembling world" - President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Unfortunately, the President predicted the fear the world would live under during the rest of the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union.

2) Some programs that were launched after the speech might have contributed to proliferation.

"First, the knowledge now possessed by several nations will eventually be shared by others, possibly all others." - President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Despite the president's desire and efforts to limit the proliferation of military nuclear power, some argue that programs put in place after the "Atom for Peace" speech initiated the development of nuclear military programs in some countries. Ariana Rowberry, for example, described how the well-intended Atom for Peace program might have contributed to the subsequent development of Iran's nuclear weapons program (learn more in [6])

Closing remarks

The" Atom for Peace" speech was a turning point in the international discussion around atomic power.

In this short story, we discussed the positive consequences of the "Atom for Peace" speech, as well as some of its shortcomings. It democratized nuclear power and laid the ideological foundations for international agencies and bodies for the development of peaceful use of nuclear energy. This development improved the condition of mankind thanks to the production of clean and plentiful electricity, as well as improvements in medicine, space propulsion, and plenty of other technological advancements.

In essence, the "Atom for Peace" speech was a call for international unity in an ambiguous time of unprecedented danger and immense opportunities. Today, as the world faces the reality of climate change, it is important we remember these words of President Eisenhower:

"...if a danger exists in the world, it is a danger shared by all; and equally, that if hope exists in the mind of one nation, that hope should be shared by all."

Read the entire speech .

References:

[1] OECD historical series, United states Atomic Energy Commission - http://www.eurochemic.be/nl/documents/68-eurochemic-EN.pdf page 52 . 1996

[2] Atom for Peace speech, IAEA. https://www.iaea.org/about/history/atoms-for-peace-speech

[3] Draft of presidential speech before the general assembly of the United Nations. https://www.dwightdeisenhower.com/DocumentCenter/View/2278/Atoms-for-Peace-Draft-PDF?bidId=

[4] IAEA https://www.iaea.org/about/overview

[5] Atom for Peace, IKE Eisenhower Foundation. https://www.dwightdeisenhower.com/378/Atoms-for-Peace

[6] Ariana Rowberry 'Sixty years of "Atom for Peace" and Iran's Nuclear Program', Brookings, 2013. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2013/12/18/sixty-years-of-atoms-for-peace-and-irans-nuclear-program/

Pierre-Clément Simon

Voices of Democracy

Lesson Plans for Secondary Educators

Dwight d. eisenhower, “ atoms for peace ” 8 december 1953.

High School Lesson Plan created for Voices of Democracy by Nicole Kennerly, Independent Editor.

Click here for the VOD unit corresponding to this lesson plan.

Value for Teachers

  • This speech launched a major propaganda campaign that framed America’s development of atomic technology as a peaceful pursuit, while associating the Soviet Union with the forces of fear and darkness.
  • The “Atoms for Peace” speech addressed both the United States and international groups and countries. One goal was to justify the buildup of atomic weaponry by framing the United States as peacemakers. While some scholars have viewed this speech as effective toward that end, it also served to exacerbate Cold War tensions and may have actually escalated the arms race.

Relevant Common Core State Standards for English/Language Arts

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

  • The “Atoms for Peace” speech purposely left some matters unstated, while relying on implied arguments for much of its persuasive impact. These implicit arguments included a warning to the Soviet Union against escalating the Cold War couched in an explicit message of peace and cooperation. This was consistent with the emphasis on peaceful uses of Atomic energy, which was the central theme of the years-long Atoms for Peace campaign.
  • Light and dark archetypal metaphors are used throughout the speech to contrast the seemingly peaceful motives of the United States with the more aggressive motives of the Soviet Union in developing atomic technology.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.6 Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text.

  • Eisenhower is credited with editing the speech personally to place more emphasis on the theme of hope instead of the fear of war. He used the word “peace” 24 times in the speech, while at the same time implicitly threatening the Soviet Union. Eisenhower’s focus on peace may have diverted attention from ongoing efforts to build up America’s atomic arsenal and prepare for war with civil defense policies.

Ideas for Pre-Reading

  • Begin by showing an image of the stamp designed and used as part of the Atoms for Peace campaign by the Eisenhower administration. Without providing any context, have students generate a list of 3-5 words they associate with the image. Have students keep their lists. After analyzing the speech, return to these lists and have students consider how they might revise their list after learning more about Atoms for Peace.
  • Provide historical context for the “Atoms for Peace” speech with information from the scholarly essay by Parry-Giles on the Voices of Democracy website. Have students read the following excerpt from that essay and reflect on the fears and other emotions that might have been present in the United States and around the globe at this time:

“The year 1953 represented a tension-filled period in the cold war; the Eisenhower administration responded to the exigencies both publicly and privately. On March 6, 1953, Joseph Stalin’s death was announced to the world. As the leader of the Soviet Union and General Secretary of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, his passing was viewed as an opportunity for the United States to take advantage of a Soviet transfer of power and address fears about nuclear proliferation. In response to Stalin’s death, President Eisenhower delivered his famous “Chance for Peace” address on April 16, 1953, to the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Assessing this speech, Ira Chernus suggests that it “identified the Soviet Union as the sole source of nuclear threat.” In the aftermath of the “Chance for Peace” speech, the Eisenhower administration privately planned “Operation Candor,” which was designed to tell the truth to the American people about the increasing dangers of atomic weapons and the escalating cold war with the Soviet Union. The Eisenhower administration often referred to this period as an “Age of Peril.”… Fears were also mounting among the American people over the intensification of the cold war. In April of 1953, the Vietminh invaded northern Laos as the French stronghold in the region deteriorated. The July 27, 1953, Armistice Agreement left a divided Korea; the war thus failed to create a unified Korea devoid of communist infiltration. In a matter of weeks, the Soviet Union had also tested its first hydrogen bomb.”

  • Eisenhower’s speech was delivered to the newly formed United Nations. Have students research when the UN was founded and why. Discuss why you think Eisenhower chose this venue and this audience for his speech launching the Atoms for Peace campaign.

Important Vocabulary/Figures

  • Secretary General Hammarskjold [para 2] : Swedish diplomat and Secretary General of the United Nations from 1953 until his death in 1961.
  • “The dread secret” [para 21] : Here Eisenhower referred to the scientific knowledge needed to build atomic weapons, which both the United States and U.S.S.R had at the time of his speech.
  • “Dark chamber of horrors” [para 35] : An example of a light/dark metaphor Eisenhower used to contrast the peaceful uses of atomic energy championed in his speech with the use of that technology for war. Specifically, he pledged that the Atoms for Peace initiative promised to a way to move the whole world “out of the dark chamber of horrors into the light,” a reference to the bright promise of atomic energy used for peaceful purposes.

Suggested Timeline/Objectives

Day 1: Pre-reading, Introduction of Important Vocabulary/Figures, and Beginning the Speech

  • Students will complete pre-reading assigned by teacher.
  • Teacher will introduce key terms of the speech.
  • Students will read paragraphs 1-20 of the speech itself.
  • Students will assess how Eisenhower introduced the subject of atomic weapons, emphasizing the dangers posed by these new weapons of mass destruction.

Day 2: Implied Arguments: Continuing on Themes of Peace in a Perilous Nuclear Age

  • Students will read paragraphs 21-57.
  • Students will continue to analyze how Eisenhower makes his argument that the U.S. and its allies have led the effort to find peace in the atomic age, while implying that the U.S.S.R., which only recently discovered the “secret” of the atomic bomb, poses a threat to peace.

Day 3: Finishing the Speech and Post-Reading & Assessment

  • Students will read paragraphs 58-81.
  • Students will complete post-activities.

Key During Reading Passages and Discussion Questions

  • Paragraphs 1-5: Discuss with students the opening of Eisenhower’s speech. Who made up this audience at the UN General Assembly? President Eisenhower spoke of the “honor” and “privilege” of addressing them; why do you think he did that? Did he say those things merely to flatter his audience? Do you think his opening might have made the audience more receptive to his message?
  • Paragraphs 6-9: How would you describe the tone of the speech in this section? Students might pull from these paragraphs key words that they might associate with an uplifting mood (such as “wisdom,” “courage,” “faith,” “happiness,” “universal peace,” “human dignity,” etc). At the same time, how did Eisenhower’s language prepare his audience for the seriousness of his topic—the threat of atomic war?
  • Paragraphs 10-20: Here Eisenhower’s tone becomes even more serious, as he directly acknowledges the threat of nuclear war. Where did he say the danger lies? How did he convey the magnitude of America’s growing “stockpile of atomic weapons” (para 18)? How did he communicate the destructive power of those weapons? Why do you think he placed so much emphasis on the destructive force of that stockpile? Guiding questions might include: Which country had the most atomic bombs at this time?    And how do you think this part of Eisenhower’s speech might have been interpreted by UN delegates from the Soviet Union or other countries? Could Eisenhower’s talk about the power of the U.S. arsenal be seen as a warning or a threat to the Soviet Union?.
  • Paragraphs 21-30: This section contains the first explicit reference to the Soviet Union. What tone did Eisenhower establish when discussing the U.S.S.R? Note Eisenhower’s use of the term “dread secret” (see Key Vocabulary section above). Why does he suggest we should “dread” the “secret” of the atomic bomb? What other key phrases do students notice in this part of the speech? After the most explicit discussion of the threat of atomic bombs, Eisenhower concludes, in paragraph 30, by warning that any atomic attack on the U.S. would be met with massive retaliation. Yet he then goes on to say that this “is not the true expression of the purpose and hope of the United States.” What did Eisenhower mean by that, and why did he place that statement here?
  • Paragraphs 31-39: Here Eisenhower takes a long view of history, noting that the threat of nuclear annihilation threatens to destroy “the irreplaceable heritage of mankind handed down to us generation from generation.” Associating the United States with the forces of “decency, and right, and justice” in the “age-old struggle upward from savagery,” he insists that the U.S. wants to be “constructive, not destructive.” In the process, he implicitly criticizes the Soviet Union. Who else might he be referring to when he speaks of the “Great Destroyers” in history? Ask students to imagine how Soviet leaders might have reacted to the speech. Would they see the speech as threatening or conciliatory, offering a chance to work together for peace?
  • Paragraphs 40-54 : These paragraphs offer a seemingly more conciliatory attitude, suggesting America’s willingness to negotiate with the Soviets. Here the emphasis is on diplomacy, negotiation, and “the conference table.” Have students discuss whether this section seems consistent with the tone of the rest of the speech. Is it more hopeful? Less threatening to the Soviets?
  • Paragraphs 55-77 : Here Eisenhower lays out his Atoms for Peace proposal, which he offers as an alternative to the development of nuclear technologies for the purposes of war. Who did Eisenhower imply should lead this effort, the UN or the U.S.? How did he transition in this part of the speech from a discussion of the fearful prospects of an atomic arms race to an optimistic vision of Atoms for Peace? What did he mean when he said, in paragraph 60, that the development of atomic technologies should be turned over to those who could adapt those technologies to “the arts of peace?”
  • Paragraphs 78-81 : How did Eisenhower close the speech? What did he mean in speaking of the “fearful atomic dilemma” faced by humanity?

Ideas for Post-Reading and Assessment

  • Identify and discuss President Eisenhower’s use of metaphors in the speech. How do his metaphors of light and dark contrast the threat of atomic weapons with the promise of peaceful uses for atomic energy?
  • Remembering the contrast of “hope” and “fear” in President Eisenhower’s speech, have students consider other public discourses that invoke feelings of hope or fear. What other political leaders have emphasized themes of hope and/or fear? Did former President Obama’s speeches about the “power of hope” also appeal to fear? Did President Trump’s warnings about the threats posed by illegal immigrants or “radical Islamic extremism” also appeal to hope?
  • Read President George W. Bush’s “Graduation Speech at West Point” in 2002, also on the Voices of Democracy Website ( http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/bush-graduation-speech-speech-text/ ). How did Bush’s characterization of the threats faced by the U.S. after 9/11 compare with President Eisenhower’s description of the atomic age? Which seems a more dangerous and frightening portrait of the world and the threats faced by the U.S.?
  • Locate two sources that detail contemporary attitudes toward the United Nations. In what ways are today’s attitudes toward the UN different or similar to those views articulated in Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” speech?

Contact Information

Voices of Democracy: The U.S. Oratory Project Shawn J. Parry-Giles Department of Communication 2130 Skinner Building University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742-7635

301-405-6527 spg@umd.edu

Questions/comments about the VOD website may be directed to Shawn Parry-Giles, University of Maryland

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  • Competitions

Atoms for Peace and Development Essay Competition 2023 by International Atomic Energy Agency [Ages 18-24; Chance to get Published]: Submit by Oct 23

  • Priyanka Barik
  • Oct 14, 2023

Submissions are invited for Atoms for Peace and Development Essay Competition 2023 by International Atomic Energy Agency. The last date of submission is October 23, 2023.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is the world’s central intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical cooperation in the nuclear field. It works for the safe, secure and peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology, contributing to international peace and security and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Competition Details

The IAEA’s essay competition for young adults around the world is based on the IAEA’s slogan – Atoms for Peace and Development. The competition is designed to commemorate the 70th anniversary of US President Dwight D Eisenhower’s ‘Atoms for Peace’ speech delivered on 8 December 1953 to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, which laid the foundation for the establishment of the IAEA in 1957. 

The winning essay will posit ways the IAEA and the international community can address today’s biggest challenges within the mission of “Atoms for Peace and Development”.

The competition is free to enter, and contestants are limited to one entry.

Eligibility

  • The competition is only open to nationals of IAEA Member States.
  • Applicants must be between 18 and 24 years of age on the date of the deadline for submission (23rd October 2023). Finalists will be requested to send a copy of their identification documents (e.g. copy of passport) to facilitate administrative arrangements regarding their prize.

Competition Guidelines

  • Essays must be submitted by an applicant acting in their own personal capacity and not on behalf of an organization, company, or government.
  • Essay character count: maximum 4000 characters, excluding references.
  • Entries must be submitted in the English language. Translation into English from essays originally written in another language will be accepted.
  • Only one submission per individual is allowed. Revisions will not be possible after the essay is officially submitted. Please carefully check before submitting the final copy and ensure that all supplementary information is correct.

The winning essay will be published by the IAEA, and the winner will be invited to Vienna to commemorate the anniversary of the speech on 8 December 2023.

How to Submit?

Interested participants can submit online via this link .

Submission Deadline

The last date of submission is October 23, 2023.

Telephone: +43 (1) 2600-0

Click here to view the official notification of Atoms for Peace and Development Essay Competition 2023 by International Atomic Energy Agency.

Join our competitions whatsapp group, get daily updates, join our competitions telegram group.

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Essay: atom for peace.

admin October 27, 2012 Essays Leave a comment 448 Views

Atom For Peace

Atom is the smallest unit of an element. It is a system composed of a charged nucleus and a number of electrons. The electrons travel in orbits about the nucleus. Now when an atom is broken, it releases tremendous energy. In this way atom has become a source of energy. The discovery of Atomic Energy is one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the present age. We may use or misuse this power. We may use it for destructive or constructive purposes. If we use it for the settlement of our disputes the whole of mankind will perish as a result. If we are sensible its use, we may have a better and happier world. In the constructive sphere, the atomic energy can work wonders.

The use of atomic energy for medical purposes can cure those diseases which were once considered incurable. Radium can be used in the destruction of abnormal tissues and cancer. Radio-therapy is an important branch of medical science. Superfluous cells are destroyed once for all. The isotopes of sodium,potassium, bromine and iodine will go a long way in tracing the origin and cause of many diseases. This saves man from the cruel clutches of a slow and painful death. In this way, the atomic energy has alleviated the human sufferings. Medicine and surgery owe a deep debt of gratitude to scientists who discovered the secrets of Atomic Energy: In the sphere of industry also, the atomic energy is going to play a very important role. Coal and petrol supply of the world is being gradually exhausted. The time is not far when they may not be available. Without them electric current cannot be produced. Now atomic energy may be used in the generation of electric current. Factories will get abundant Co) quality of electricity to produce things on a large scale. In the U.S.A.,- a large number of big and small firms are harnessing atomic energy for securing cheap production Electronic machines and computers are being used in the process of metal working, mineral processing, machine designs, glass making, textile manufacture, plastic and paper processing electrical equipments rubber and cement.

In the field of agriculture, atomic energy will be of great help to the farmers. Atomic explosions can level the hills and mounds. The land so made available can be used for the cultivation of crops. Crops can be ripened within a shorter period with the help of atomic-energy. The yield of grain per acre can be doubled the original one. Moreover atomic energy can prevent the pests of harmful bacteria. In this way food problem can be solved.

Lastly, we come to the use of atomic energy for transport purposes. With the help of atomic energy, the means of communication can be made swifter and more reliable than at present. Trains, cars, trucks, ships, Submarines aeroplanes missiles and rockets can all be worked by atomic energy. Thanks to the power of Atom, the scientists are planning voyages to the moon Soon inter-planetary voyages will become a reality in the near future.

Other titles of the above Essay

  • Uses of Nuclear Energy
  • Positive Application of Atomic Energy
  • Merits of Atomic Energy
  • Peace by using Atomic power

atom for peace essay with quotations

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The Hidden Figures Who Spread the Gospel

In “God’s Ghostwriters,” the historian Candida Moss explores the many people who penned the Scriptures.

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The image portrays a colorful 15th century illustration of a seated, robed figure writing at a lectern while two standing men look on. A bearded, haoeld figure surrounded by light descends from the sky.

By Timothy Farrington

Timothy Farrington is a former editor at Harper’s Magazine and The Wall Street Journal.

GOD’S GHOSTWRITERS: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible , by Candida Moss

Near the end of the Epistle to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul adds a comment on his clumsy penmanship: “Look at what big letters I have written to you with in my own hand.”

Rhetorically, it’s a stamp of authenticity. Forged texts were common in the flux of early Christianity, so here is proof that Paul (who was possibly nearsighted) endorsed this message. It’s also an arresting reminder that the Epistle really was a letter, and that the Bible really is a biblion — a papyrus-and-ink book, transcribed (at a minimum) by individual human hands.

In “God’s Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible,” Candida Moss stresses the further implications of Paul’s remark, ones that have often been overlooked. Like most writers in the Roman world, she points out, Paul mostly didn’t write. The force of his aside comes from the fact that he didn’t often take up a pen; he was making a special effort as a sign of his conviction. Instead, he dictated, to skilled aides, who — though euphemized as “secretaries” or “amanuenses” — were quite likely enslaved.

Such workers, argues Moss, a professor of theology at the University of Birmingham, were more than mouthpieces but “co-authors, meaning-makers, missionaries and apostles in their own right.”

Slavery was everywhere at Rome. Around the time of Christ, something like a quarter of the population of Italy was enslaved. In the countryside, enslaved people workedincreasingly consolidated large farms. In the city, they filled innumerable roles created by the Romans’ love of luxury, thirst for status and sinister genius for hierarchical classification: cook, wet nurse, bookkeeper, colorator (furniture polisher), a tabulis (keeper of pictures), ab argento (keeper of silver), nomenclator (rememberer of guests’ names) and dozens more. Among them were the scribes, readers and messengers who are Moss’s main subjects.

Tantalizingly, one appears by name in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans: “I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, greet you in the Lord.” “Tertius” has the utilitarian ring of a servile name, Moss notes: It means “Third.” But we get nothing beyond this glimpse, itself a rarity. In Roman society, slaves were non-people, living in what the historian Keith Bradley has described as a kind of death suspended at their enslaver’s whim.

Direct evidence for how such workers shaped the Gospel and its reception is accordingly scanty, so Moss’s account is necessarily, and admittedly, speculative. But she grounds her imaginative interpretations in close reading of secular and religious texts and the appalling facts of ancient slavery in general.

Enslaved workers copied Christian manuscripts, cataloged them in libraries and helped compile cross-references, indexes and other aids for reading. They silently corrected faults in texts and chased down quotations in unwieldy scrolls.

Even when taking dictation, Moss argues, they could play a meaningful part in composition. She cites another passage written by Paul, Romans 5:1, where some manuscripts have “we have peace in God” and others have “let us have peace in God.” The difference rests on a single character in Greek — omega versus omicron. The thing is, as Moss observes, the two letters, formerly distinct, had come to be pronounced the same by the time Romans was transcribed. “Whichever reading was the ‘original’ written text, it would have been a decision on the part of Paul’s secretary,” an unacknowledged bit of “collaboration” between the named author and his enslaved scribe.

More speculatively, she notes the “pervasive bookish language” of Galatians, where enslaved people are twice referred to with a word that can also mean letters of the alphabet. This might be a way for Paul’s scribe of “inserting themself into the letter,” she suggests, a kind of in-joke. “Perhaps they let slip a wry smile as they inscribed the words.”

Enslaved people helped spread the Gospel as well as formulate it. Specialist lectores read — performed — biblical passages to Christians assembled for study and worship. Skillful improvisation by a lector might even explain the alternative ending to the Gospel of Mark recorded in some manuscripts, Moss suggests.

Couriers carried word from apostles to keep distant communities of nascent Christians on the same page, biblically speaking. Like ministers in the pulpit, Moss writes, these messengers were “interpretive guides,” ad hoc apostles who used gesture and intonation to supplement and explicate the text they carried.

Artisans, women and enslaved people also spread the Christian message through casual chatter; not for nothing did pagans denigrate Christianity as a “superstition of ‘women and slaves.’” Moss goes on to cite a scene from Acts where the imagery of the Holy Spirit sweeping down on the apostles recalls classical tropes of gossip spreading like uncontrollable wind.

Passages like that aren’t a fluke, she writes, but reflect the “consistent rooting of early Christian identity in the structures of slavery.” To be a faithful Christian was to be a “slave of Christ” like the Apostle Paul. Even biblical visions of hell, in Moss’s reading, are influenced by the brutal working conditions for enslaved laborers in mines.

Above all, “slavish” aspects can be seen in Jesus, from his habit of speaking in parables (a lowly literary form resembling the fables of the enslaved Aesop) to his ambiguous parentage (much emphasized by Mark, who himself was sometimes cast as enslaved). Philippians goes further, outright describing Jesus as “taking the form of a slave” at birth. Moss shows how Christians have applied such rhetoric selectively ever since, sanitizing servitude into a metaphor.

Moss’s points about the disquieting ease with which some people use phrases like “faithful servant,” heedless of the ideological tangle of Christianity and slavery that underlies them, are well put. But occasionally she can be too eager to yoke past and present. She declares at the outset that she’s not worried about anachronism, on the ground that “disinterested history is sometimes also morally negligent.”

Even so, her injections of modern rhetoric (“essential workers,” “emotional labor,” “precarity”) feel less subtle than the analysis that surrounds them. “God’s Ghostwriters” is also less a cumulative argument than a string of case studies.

But it brings the world of ancient slavery to grim life, and connects larger issues of collaboration and credit to the material facts of ancient work, making it impossible to ignore the labor between the lines.

GOD’S GHOSTWRITERS : Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible | By Candida Moss | Little, Brown | 336 pp. | $30

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I get $500 monthly from a basic income program. The money helped me get through my husband's cancer diagnosis.

  • Lira Campbell is getting $500 a month for 5 years from HudsonUP , a basic income program in New York.
  • She was selected for the basic income pilot after learning her husband had cancer.
  • She said the no-strings-attached money gave her room to breathe.

Insider Today

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Lira Campbell, a 62-year-old widow in Hudson, New York who is receiving $500 monthly for five years from the town's basic income program. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Before Hudson's basic income program, I was — like most Americans — living paycheck to paycheck, doing the best you can. I had a little bit extra, but not enough to save, not enough to do anything. I'm a retired educator, and my husband was retired, so we were OK.

Then, in August 2020, my husband came home and told me that he was diagnosed with cancer. I know the journey of somebody being diagnosed like that can be long, and it's going to take a lot. It's going to take a lot of emotions. It's going to take a lot mentally. It's going to just take a lot out of you as a human being. And then I said, "Oh my God, the bills."

Related stories

Later, I saw an announcement about "$500 a month for five years." I thought it had to be a scam. And even if it was real, they would probably be asking 20 questions. Ain't nobody got time for that. So I didn't pay it no mind.

A couple of days later, I saw it was the last day to apply and I asked myself if I should do it. My mind said, "Why not? Just look." It was three or four questions, nothing too personal.

So, when I got the phone call that I was accepted to the program, the first thing I thought was, "God, thank you." I was so grateful. And then I got that sense of relief because I knew financially that was one area I didn't have to focus on, and I could take that energy and put it on my husband. I would be able to sleep at night. I had this sort of peace knowing that I wouldn't have to worry about paying for his medical care and not having enough to pay for something else.

That's pretty much where the journey began, and I was just so grateful. It came at a time when it was so needed. You know how sometimes you don't know you need help until you need help? That's how it was for me. I had no clue that I needed this help until I got it. What a blessing. I don't have to ask anybody for anything. I don't have to play a pitiful person to get what I need. I am a strong Black woman who was dealing with her spouse who was terminally ill.

We have to put everybody on a fair playing field. Everybody should be able to go to bed at night knowing that they can pay their rent, they can put food on the table, they can put gas in their car, they can pay whatever bills they have, and still have a little bit left over if they want to go to the movies.

One of the things that was amazing to me about the program is that the money is no strings attached. Because in this country, if the government gives you anything, they want to know where it's going and how you spend it. I do whatever I want. It sustains me. It helps me keep food on the table and pay rent. I don't do anything big or fancy. If I want to invest or save, I have options and choices, and that's freedom. Everyone should have that.

Watch: Supreme Court strikes down Biden's student-debt relief plan

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  8. Atoms for Peace

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  19. Atoms For Peace Essay Competition Champion Unveiled by IAEA

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