Atoms for Peace

This study guide will help you analyze Dwight Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” (1953) speech. In addition to help for your analysis, you can find a summary of the text and ideas for assessing it and putting it into perspective.

Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969) was an American politician and military official who served as the 34^th President of the United States from 1953 to 1961. He lead US troops in Europe during the Second World War, and he became the first Supreme Allied Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1951.

Extract

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Nuclear power

Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from a reaction called nuclear fission, which was discovered in 1938. During the Second World War scientists from many countries researched this process in an attempt to develop a nuclear weapon. The United States created the first nuclear reactor in 1942 and famously used two atomic bombs in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during the Second World War. Afterward, the potential of nuclear power to be used as an energy source was explored during the 1940s and 1950s.