Research Paper on:
American Nuclearism

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
nuclear fear - and the fear of explosive forces unleashed by this power. These two images interacted in the first half of the twentieth century, effectively leading most Americans  to embrace the bomb, as well as support the idea of nuclear supremacy. Surmising that the pro-bomb consensus, which was developed in the first years after World War  II, was driven by atomic powers hopeful and fearful images, people embraced its omnipotence with a combination of exhilaration and apprehension. Through its slick marketing tactics and diplomatic approach,  the American government successfully manipulated both public hopes and anxieties about the bomb by building support for the pursuit of security through nuclear supremacy.  The United States had plunged head long into superpower status virtually overnight, and military support was at an all-time high. On the eve of the Pearl Harbor attack,  there were one point seven million people enlisted in the Army and one hundred sixty thousand in the Navy; within six months, those numbers grew to twelve point three million  men and women in the American armed forces (Nelan, 1998), representing not only the United State in the war effort but also in the labor union effort that was carrying  on back home. This is where the decision to drop the second bomb came into play, effectively establishing American nuclearism as a force  with which to be reckoned. When assessing the moral and strategic value of dropping the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, one has to inherently consider that issue of national  security as it was presented to the public. Indeed, Japan may have surrendered after the initial bombing of Hiroshima, but there was still enough tension in existence to warrant