Word: neutrons
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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This transatlantic furor was set off last week by an incorrect front page report in the New York Times that Jimmy Carter had decided against production of the neutron bomb. For months U.S. diplomats had been trying to win NATO nations' support for the bomb on the ground that its lethal radiation would offset the Soviet Union's 3-to-l superiority in tanks in Central Europe. Now Carter seemed to have changed his mind despite the recommendations of his chief advisers on defense and diplomacy. All week long U.S. officials kept denying the Times report, insisting that...
...bomb* that can be delivered to battlefield targets by 20-ft. Lance missiles, with a range of 75 miles, or by 8-in. howitzer shells, which can be fired about 13 miles. The weapon gets its name from the fact that on detonation it releases enormous quantities of radioactive neutrons that kill people without destroying buildings. According to proponents, the bomb could break up a Soviet tank attack without destroying buildings outside the battle zone. Moreover, since most neutron radiation dissipates in seconds, NATO troops could move in quickly to secure the battlefield; the radiation from conventional nuclear weapons would...
Most NATO admirals and generals back the neutron bomb because of its advantages over existing tactical warheads, but their civilian leaders have reacted more coolly, and some military men also voice dissent. British Admiral of the Fleet Sir Peter Hill-Norton dismisses the neutron bomb as "sexy for the media [but] a new dimension of warfare that we do not want to go into." The Dutch are attempting to keep the bomb out of the NATO arsenal and Christian Democratic Leader Willem Aantjes declared last week that the false report of Carter's decision was "extremely good news" because...
...months on both sides of the Atlantic. Opponents maintain that the weapon is immoral because it destroys people but not property; the argument, of course, overlooks the fact that existing tactical nuclear warheads are also intended to kill people. More to the point, opponents believe that the neutron bomb's limited blast and short-lived radiation would invite its use in a crisis, thus increasing the danger of a conventional conflict escalating into a nuclear holocaust. But, as supporters note, NATO is a defensive alliance and the neutron bombs would only be used on allied territory to beat back...
Teamed with a Berkeley debater, King argued that the U.S. should develop the neutron bomb as a deterrent to Soviet aggression in Western Europe...