MMW 15 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Manhattan Project, Red Scare, Brinkmanship
12 Jun 2018
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Outline Lecture Seventeen—Big Science and the Research University
Key Repercussions of the Cold War:
1) Political—Domino theory, containment, brinksmanship, espionage
Containing communism in every part of the world
How far is nation willing to go to brinks of civilization
Espionage is spying and undermining from within
2) Social—Increased censorship, Red Scare, violation of civil liberties
Red scare inspired by carthyism
3) Economic—Industrial-military complex, ideological role of World Bank, IMF
4) Cultural—Greater tension in athletic competitions, cultural imperialism
I) Eisenhower’s Prescient Warnings
a) Eisenhower’s “Farewell Address” 1961
You have someone who is absolutely instrumental in ww2 to deal with the cold wwr
Sober appeal for moderation and sanity
In midst of arms buildup that got out of hand
Departing president saying that we need to check ourselves
3.5 million involved in defense industry and went into defense spending
50% of budget went into defense spending
he was worried about how they would collude out of their own special interests
a lot of ppl made a lot of money out of the Cold War
i) Fear that the arms buildup had gotten out of hand
(1) http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/us_defense_spending_30.html
ii) Influence of the military-industrial complex—too powerful, too fast
Disproportionate power that military industrial complex had on foreign and domestic
policies
b) Endangering the democratic process
i) Potential for the defense industry to dictate foreign and domestic policy
How much influence would they have on shaping our domestic policy
Created beast beyond our control
ii) Lack of autonomy in academia due to federal funding
How would this impact autonomy
II) The Role of the Research University in the Arms Race—A Marriage of Convenience?
a) Manhattan Project
Effort for America to develop first atomic bomb
1,600 scientists, mostly rocket scientists
very secretive, top secret, no one was supposed to know
i) Push to develop an atomic weapons program in advance of the Germans
Some argue we had to do this bc Hitler and his ppl were working on this too
ii) Secret operation set up in a remote desert in New Mexico
b) Los Alamos
Isolated area bc it was top secret
Manhattan project set up here
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Outline lecture seventeen big science and the research university. Key repercussions of the cold war: political domino theory, containment, brinksmanship, espionage. Containing communism in every part of the world. How far is nation willing to go to brinks of civilization. Espionage is spying and undermining from within: social increased censorship, red scare, violation of civil liberties. Red scare inspired by carthyism: economic industrial-military complex, ideological role of world bank, imf, cultural greater tension in athletic competitions, cultural imperialism, eisenhower"s prescient warnings, eisenhower"s farewell address 1961. You have someone who is absolutely instrumental in ww2 to deal with the cold wwr. In midst of arms buildup that got out of hand. Departing president saying that we need to check ourselves. 3. 5 million involved in defense industry and went into defense spending. Disproportionate power that military industrial complex had on foreign and domestic policies: endangering the democratic process, potential for the defense industry to dictate foreign and domestic policy.
