[Foreign Book] Secrets of US Presidents and Nuclear Weapons from Truman to Trump

Fred Kaplan 'Bomb: The President, the Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War'

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] American journalist Fred Kaplan begins the first sentence of his new book The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War as follows.

"Although 30 years have passed since the end of the Cold War, almost everyone is still worried about nuclear war."

Kaplan's new book The Bomb uncovers the history and secrets of U.S. nuclear weapons policy from President Harry Truman (1884?1972) to current President Donald Trump. Kaplan wrote the book after reading thousands of declassified documents over time and interviewing numerous military leaders and government officials. The Bomb reveals what U.S. presidents over the past 70 years have thought about nuclear weapons.

In a recent interview with National Public Radio (NPR), Kaplan revealed that former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates discussed nuclear disarmament at the National Security Council (NSC). When former President Obama first proposed exploring ways to eliminate nuclear weapons, former Secretary Gates opposed, stating that means were needed to respond to the biochemical weapons of Russia, China, and North Korea.

Nuclear weapons have also played an important role in U.S. domestic politics. In the 1960 presidential election, the late John F. Kennedy claimed that the U.S. was falling behind the Soviet Union in the nuclear missile production race.

Kaplan has long written about nuclear weapons. His 1983 book The Wizards of Armageddon deals with nuclear war strategies during the Cold War era. He currently writes a weekly column titled "War Stories" for the American online magazine State.

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