Speaking Out on the Insanity of Nuclear Weapons

"Near the end of his life, Robert McNamara wrote an essay for Foreign Policy, titled "Apocalypse Soon." In it, the controversial former US Secretary of Defense and president of the World Bank argued that we "must move promptly toward elimination-or near elimination-of nuclear weapons." McNamara is known for his moderating role during the Cuban missile crisis, which might have saved us from the end of the world. In "Apocalypse Soon," he writes about this experience and how it shaped his own views on nuclear weapons."

"Today, of the "four horsemen of the apocalypse," Bill Perry and Sam Nunn are still alive. Nunn was involved in cofounding and leading the Nuclear Threat Initiative, while Perry, at nearly 100 years old, has his own William J. Perry Project, dedicated to "working to end the nuclear threat." In 2014, in an interview with three Columbia University students, Perry shared that he was afraid we were already in a new nuclear arms race."

Robert McNamara urged prompt movement toward elimination or near-elimination of nuclear weapons. His moderating role during the Cuban missile crisis shaped his deep concern about catastrophic risk. Senior statesmen including Henry Kissinger, George Schultz, William Perry, and Sam Nunn called in 2007 for a world free of nuclear weapons. Sam Nunn cofounded and led the Nuclear Threat Initiative. William Perry established the William J. Perry Project to work toward ending the nuclear threat and expressed fear in 2014 that a new nuclear arms race had begun. The apparent expiration of New START heightens risks, and current officeholders must act urgently; only Ed Markey has publicly urged the Trump administration.

Read at The Nation