On This Day: Carter shelves production of neutron bombs, amid pressure from allies - April 7, 1978
(edited from article)
"
Carter shelves production of neutron bombs, April 7, 1978
Neutron bombs are thermonuclear weapons designed to annihilate people while leaving structures standing.
They feature a warhead that kills people by radiation rather than by the force of a blast. They were developed by the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s and were first operationally deployed on anti-ballistic missiles. They were widely seen as “cleaner weapons” for possible use against invading Soviet armored divisions. As they would be used over allied nations, notably West Germany, the reduced blast damage was seen as a key advantage.
Following a behind-the-scenes debate, on this day in 1978, President Jimmy Carter — embroiled in a controversy that was straining the Western alliance and creating sharp divisions within his administration — decided to defer production of the weapon.
The weapon went into production in 1981, after Carter had left office, for use on the MGM-52 Lance missile. That decision soon generated protests as anti-nuclear movement gained strength. Opposition was so intense that European leaders refused to accept it. President Ronald Reagan bowed to pressure; the weapons remained stockpiled in the United States until they were retired in 1992. The last one was dismantled in 2011.
"
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/07/this-day-in-politics-april-7-1257024
(Carter then continues to see the neutron bomb as a bargaining chip.)
(edited from article)
"
Carter backs Reagan on neutron weapon
TOKYO -- Former President Jimmy Carter said Thursday he did 'not disagree' with President Reagan's decision to build neutron weapons in view of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Moscow-backed Vietnam's aggression against Cambodia.
Carter said, 'I do not disagree with President Reagan's decision but I hope and trust as soon as the Soviet Union is willing to implement the termination of aggression and move towards peace and the control of nuclear weapons our country will be ready to cooperate with them completely as we have been in the past.'
Carter tried to launch a neutron program in 1977 but encountered stiff resistance from western allies who argued that production of the lethal weapon would encourage war.
In April 1978 Carter announced that the United States would build components of the weapon but defer final assembly or deployment of the warheads.
"
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/09/03/Carter-backs-Reagan-on-neutron-weapon/8627368337600/
(edited from article)
"
NEUTRON BOMB: AN EXPLOSIVE ISSUE
Nov. 15, 1981
Four years ago, the United States triggered a controversy in Europe over its plans to build neutron bombs. In April 1978, Ronald Reagan, then a future Presidential candidate, stepped into the fray. He declared that the new bomb was ''the first weapon that's come along in a long time that could easily and economically alter the balance of power. It could be the ideal deterrent.'' President Carter eventually set the plan aside, but last summer the Reagan Administration decided to go ahead with it. This move raises yet again the problem - and with it the heated, emotional controversy and debate - of how to defend Europe in the atomic age without destroying it.
Was Mr. Reagan right in 1978 when he placed such high hopes on the neutron bomb? And is he still right today? The crux of the neutronbomb issue is whether the production and deployment of this weapon will somehow push us closer to the threshold between war posturing and war fighting, or pull us back to a position of greater strength and increased deterrence. Resolving the issue requires answering difficult questions: What do neutron weapons add to the West's existing arsenal? How do military commanders foresee using them? How do the weapons fit into the politics that link Americans with Europeans?
Today, the most common rationale for building neutron bombs is to counter the Warsaw Pact nations' huge tank armada in Europe. Behind the East German frontier, which would look a lot like Wisconsin if the watchtowers and barbed wire were removed, sit 19,700 Soviet tanks in various states of readiness. Ready for what? Some could conceivably be intended for possible internal use within Eastern Europe; some might be for psychological effect. In an area of the world where military confrontation is largely symbolic, it is hard to know what these tanks really mean, what danger they really pose. But North Atlantic Treaty Organization generals feel obliged to translate numbers into offensive tactics. They feel obliged to see blitzkrieg.
Recent interviews with Pentagon officials cast important new light not only on the neutron bomb itself, a weapon that has been clouded by misinformation for 20 years, but also on a policy that is shaking the NATO alliance as never before. Perhaps the most important fact that these officers reveal is that the neutron bomb (''enhanced radiation weapon'' is the Pentagon's preferred term) is not, as publicly perceived, a ''clean'' device that would be surgically used against a small number of key enemy troops without damaging buildings or risking widespread radiation exposure. Like any other nuclear weapon, it is clearly an instrument of mass destruction. ''I think one of the great problems we have,'' says Gen. Niles J. Fulwyler, chief of the Army's tactical nuclear and chemical policy-making unit, ''is that some people perceive enhanced radiation weapons to be something drastically new - some new invention that is far different from any other weapon. That is unfortunate. Enhanced radiation is nothing more than part of a continual process of modernization'' of the nation's nuclear arsenal.
"
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/15/magazine/neutron-bomb-an-explosive-issue.html
(edited from article)
"
The Neutron Bomb — A Negotiating Dud
The neutron bomb, a low-yield thermonuclear weapon which would be especially lethal to enemy ground troops but would not seriously damage buildings, became the focus of international controversy when the U.S. and a few others had proposed deploying the weapon in Western Europe to counter the Soviet threat.
Many NATO countries were unwilling to accept the bombs on their territory, as they did not want to become Cold War hot spots. The United States, however, wanted a forward deployed weapon that could deter Soviet aggression, allow for great flexibility after it was used, and which presented a more credible threat to Soviet tanks.
Long negotiations with NATO allies, specifically the Dutch, Danish, and Germans, led to initial plans to deploy the warheads in Germany in 1978. There was some thought of using the neutron bomb as a bargaining chip with the Soviets, perhaps to get a reduction in the number of tanks.
However, after considerable vacillating, President Jimmy Carter announced on April 7, 1978 that the U.S. was abruptly cancelling the program, angering NATO members, especially German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. The negotiations with the German Chancellor had been especially fraught and politically costly for Schmidt; he ended up using much of his political capital in order to convince his own party in Parliament to support the deployment of the neutron bomb in Germany, only to see the rug pulled out from under him.
"
https://adst.org/2016/07/the-neutron-bomb-a-negotiating-dud/
---------------------------------------------------------
On This Day: New York Slave Revolt of 1712 - Apr. 6, 1712
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016375473
On This Day: Sanger's birth control league incorporated, evolves into Planned Parenthood - Apr. 5, 1922
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016375438
On This Day: NATO treaty signed in Washington, D.C., led by the United States - Apr. 4, 1949
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016375380
On This Day: New king takes over in struggle between two Mayan "superpowers" - Apr. 3, 686
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016375312
On This Day: 300 armed women lead Richmond bread riot - Apr. 2, 1863
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016375296
= new reply since forum marked as read
