On Fri, 20 Sep 2002, John D. Giorgis wrote:
Imagine that - being scared to live in your nation's capital
because you think that there is a real risk that a nuclear or
biological weapon will go off there. Welcome to America post
9/11/01.
John, welcome to the 1940s! By the end of the 1940s, many people in
Washington were talking about biological attacks and about smuggling
nuclear weapons into the United States.
In President Truman's administration, the US government rebuilt the
White House with battleship armor. The goal was to create a building
that could stand up to a nearby Hiroshima-sized explosion.
(Obviously, the builders lacked a belief in the progress of weapons'
technology; but that is a different issue.)
By the end of the 1950s, the US was worried that bombers and missles
from the Soviet Union could drop nuclear or biological weapons on
Washington, DC. The government recognized that the battleship armor
in the White House would provide insufficient protection to people in
the building.
Moreover, by the end of the 1950s, worries of attack has spread from
a government and military people to the wider populace.
Since that time, many people have thought it dangerous to live within
40 miles (60 km) of the White House, or to live within several hundred
miles or kilometers down wind of it.
As far as I can see, Americans have not suffered much of increase in
danger compared to 1960. Indeed, most are probably in less danger now
from nuclear and chemical weapons, except for people still living in a
prime target, such as the nation's capital.
I don't know whether advances in medicine (which military people have
complained were hindered by Reagan administration cuts in basic
research) have increased people's safety from biological weapons, or
whether the advances in attackers ability to engineer such weapons has
decreased people's safety.
--
Robert J. Chassell [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Rattlesnake Enterprises http://www.rattlesnake.com
Free Software Foundation http://www.gnu.org GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
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