J. Robert Oppenheimer: General Advisory Committee Report on the Building of the H-Bomb - Milestone Documents

J. Robert Oppenheimer: General Advisory Committee Report on the Building of the H-Bomb

( 1949 ) Commentary by Bradley A. Skeen, Ph.D.
  • “A second characteristic of the super bomb is that once the problem of initiation has been solved, there is no limit to the explosive power of the bomb itself except that imposed by requirements of delivery.” - General Advisory Committee Report on the Building of the H-Bomb
  • “We base our recommendation on our belief that the extreme dangers to mankind inherent in the proposal wholly outweigh any military advantage that could come from this development. Let it be clearly realized that this is a super weapon; it is in a totally different category from an atomic bomb.… Its use would involve a decision to slaughter a vast number of civilians.” - General Advisory Committee Report on the Building of the H-Bomb
  • “In determining not to proceed to develop the super bomb, we see a unique opportunity of providing by example some limitations on the totality of war and thus of limiting the fear and arousing the hopes of mankind.” - General Advisory Committee Report on the Building of the H-Bomb
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Panoramic view of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb drop (Library of Congress)

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