Title: "Preventing Nuclear War"
In his social psychology text, Dave Myers eliminated the following from the last couple of editions in the chapter on "Aggression". I always loved it and now that it's not in the text, I read it aloud to my classes. Thought some of you might also find it of interest to share with your classes. The reading is inevitably followed by a shocked silence. Hope Dave doesn't mind...
Beth Benoit
University System of New Hampshire
Preventing Nuclear War
International Law professor Roger Fisher proposed a way to personalize the victims of war:
It so happens that a young man, usually a navy officer, accompanies the President wherever he goes. This young man has a black attaché case which contains the codes that are needed to fire nuclear weapons.
I can see the President at a staff meeting considering nuclear war as an abstract question. He might conclude, ³On SIOP Plan One, the decision is affirmative. Communicate the Alpha line XYZ.² Such jargon keeps what is involved at a distance.
My suggestion then, is quite simple. Put that needed code number in a little capsule and implant that capsule right next to the heart of a volunteer. The volunteer will carry with him a big, heavy butcher knife as he accompanies the President. if ever the President wants to fire nuclear weapons, the only way he can do so is by first, with his own hands, killing one human being.
³George,² the President would say, ³Iım sorry, but tens of millions must die.² The President then would have to look at someone and realize what death is - what an innocent death is. Blood on the White House carpet: itıs reality brought home.
When I suggested this to friends in the Pentagon, they said, ³My God, thatıs terrible. Having to kill someone would distort the Presidentıs judgment. He might never push the button.²
Adapted from ³Preventing Nuclear War² by Roger Fisher, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March, 1981, pp. 11-17.
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