430 ChApTEr 19 | Containment and ConfliCt | period eight 19 45 –198 0follow sea and land forces in such number and power as they have not yet seen
and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware....
The fact that we can release atomic energy ushers in a new era in man’s under-
standing of nature’s forces. Atomic energy may in the future supplement the power
that now comes from coal, oil, and falling water, but at present it cannot be pro-
duced on a basis to compete with them commercially. Before that comes there
must be a long period of intensive research. It has never been the habit of the sci-
entists of this country or the policy of this government to withhold from the world
scientific knowledge. Normally, therefore, everything about the work with atomic
energy would be made public.
But under present circumstances it is not intended to divulge the technical
processes of production or all the military applications, pending further exami-
nation of possible methods of protecting us and the rest of the world from the
danger of sudden destruction.Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, http://www.trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/index
.php?pid=100&st=atomic&st1=bomb.p rACTICINg historical Thinking
Identify: Identify three or four significant reasons that Truman provides for praising
atomic weaponry.
Analyze: Do these reasons primarily pursue progress in the name of peace and
technology, or something else? Explain.
Evaluate: To what extent does the “unique success” that Truman describes rep-
resent a continuation of the ways that American technology paved the way for
economic and political power?Document 19.2 GeOrGe F. Kennan, The Long Telegram
1946George Kennan (1904–2005) was an American diplomat who was based in Moscow when
he wrote his famous long telegram to the US State Department to persuade Washington
policy makers to take a more cautious policy toward the Soviet Union (USSR).(1) Our first step must be to apprehend, and recognize for what it is, the nature of
the movement with which we are dealing. We must study it with same courage,
detachment, objectivity, and same determination not to be emotionally provoked
or unseated by it, with which doctor studies unruly and unreasonable individual.
(2) We must see that our public is educated to realities of Russian situation. I can-
not over-emphasize importance of this. Press cannot do this alone. It must be done
mainly by Government, which is necessarily more experienced and better informedTopIC I | the origins of the Cold War 43120_STA_2012_ch19_427-446.indd 430 16/04/15 4:37 PM