The virtual seminar will be held from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. (E.T.)
Harry Truman can be credited in setting the direction of global nuclear history. He is the only president to have authorized the use of nuclear weapons in war. He also was one of the principle architects of what has become the nuclear taboo. This talk will explore Truman’s influence on nuclear history, and how it is often simultaneously overstated and understated. It will attempt to resolve Truman’s public defense of the use of nuclear weapons in World War II, and eagerness to accept responsibility for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and his postwar lack of enthusiasm for nuclear weapons.
About the speaker: Alex Wellerstein is an Associate Professor and director of Science and Technology Studies at the Stevens Institute of Technology. His book, Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States, was published in 2021. His popular writings have appeared in the New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Harper’s Magazine, among other venues, and he is also the creator of the NUKEMAP.