The Human Race Cannot Coexist with Nuclear Weapons

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On August 1954, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cites of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing over two hundred thousands instantly and more over time due to radiation and other injuries. These two bombs ended World War II and changed the public’s view of nuclear energy. Those bombs were the only nuclear weapons used in any war, but there were many more detonated for tests.(1) During a speech about the nuclear test ban Kennedy said “Eighteen years ago the advent of nuclear weapons changed the course of the world as well as the war.”(2) The invention of nuclear weapons changed the world by having the ability to destroy the human race, changing how countries fight wars, and building fear into people around the world.

A group of scientists from around the world named the Manhattan Project was created by the United States. The projects one goal was to invent the first nuclear weapon, and they successfully tested the first nuclear weapon in 1945. A nuclear weapon is a device that derives its energy from nuclear reactions. These reactions are the breaking and joining of atom bonds which creates tremendous amount of radiation. Nuclear bombs contain uranium atoms, and when detonated they become more powerful than any other weapon ever made.

During the Cold War both the US and the Soviet Union spent millions on inventing new and improved nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons have the potential to destroy the human race. The US and Russia have enough nuclear weapons from the Cold War to destroy the human race many times over.(3) In a large nuclear attack it is estimated that fifty million Americans would die and over time more and more would die from radiation.(4) These weapons have the ability to destroy large areas and in a fu...

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... 1945-1950.” The Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 49, No. 1. (1980): 51-76. www.jstor.org (accessed March 23, 2008).

Kennedy, John F. " The Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty." Annals of American History.

http://america.eb.com/america/article?articleId=387312&query=the+nuclear+test+ban (accessed March 23, 2008).

"Nuclear Weapons." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO. http://www.worldhistory.abc-clio. com (accessed March 23, 2008).

Paarlberg, Rob. “Forgetting about the Unthinkable.” Foreign Policy, No. 10. (1973): 132-140. www.jstor.org (accessed March 23, 2008).

Thinkexist. “Nuclear Weapons Quotes.” http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/nuclear_weapons/

Wald, George. " A Generation Unsure It Has a Future," Annals of American History.

http://america.eb.com/america/article?articleId=387406&query=generation+unsure+it+has+a+future (accessed March 23, 2008).

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