The U.S. emerged from World War II as the world's leading scientific and technological nation, consolidating its advantage for the next two or three decades. This paper describes how the State Department used the nation's dominance in the nuclear field, inherited from the Manhattan Project, to divert the resources of Western European states, notably France and Germany, into a civilian nuclear power program undertaken by a new supranational organization, Euratom. The determination on the continent to re-launch the European integration process in 1955, the Suez crisis in 1956, and the launch of the Sputniks in 1957 were opportunities ably exploited by officers in the State Department to use America's scientific, technological, and industrial depth in nuclear power as a political weapon. To this end they withheld the supply of enriched uranium for as long as possible from nations that wanted the fuel through bilateral agreements with the Atomic Energy Commission. In parallel they offered nuclear materials and know how, along with economic and political incentives, to encourage nations to commit to Euratom. This policy was strongly opposed by senior officials in the AEC and in the fledgling International Atomic Energy Agency, as well in Britain and in some continental countries, but to no avail. Though the State Department's efforts eventually bore little fruit, the paper clearly shows how U.S. leadership in science and technology was mobilized to promote America's foreign policy agenda in Western Europe in the early Cold War.
Skip Nav Destination
Close
Article navigation
February 2008
Research Article|
February 01 2008
The Peaceful Atom as Political Weapon: Euratom and American Foreign Policy in the Late 1950s
John Krige
John Krige
School of History, Technology and Society, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332.
Search for other works by this author on:
Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences (2008) 38 (1): 5–44.
Citation
John Krige; The Peaceful Atom as Political Weapon: Euratom and American Foreign Policy in the Late 1950s. Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences 1 February 2008; 38 (1): 5–44. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/hsns.2008.38.1.5
Download citation file:
Close
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.