Moral Panics, The Military-Industrial Complex, and The Arms Race

Abstract

This study argues that the generalized fear of the Soviet threat was punctuated by moral panics that provided a signal impetus to the arms race. The growth of the American nuclear arsenal came in three large waves (the Truman, the Eisenhower/ KennedyNcNamara, and the Reagan buildups), the result of panics unleashed by startling and spectacular Soviet challenges to American nuclear hegemony (the Soviet atomic bomb, the Sputnik/Cuban missile crisis, and the window of vulnerability, respectively). The initial panics were instrumental in overcoming the fiscal constraints imposed on the military by the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, creating conditions conducive to the ascendency of a military-industrial complex. More specifically, the timing of the panics was determined by authentic surges of fear that in turn provided the political leverage for large-scale nuclear buildups. The direction taken by the panics, however, was determined by the creation and dramatization of an elective affinity between nuclear supremacy and both national security and the sanctity of the American way of life. In contrast with these panics, most efforts to mobilize fear by creating the perception of gaps in the Soviet favor failed.

“Radiation is Not New to Our Lives”: TheU.S.AtomicEnergyCommission, Continental Atmospheric Weapons Testing, and Discursive Hegemony in the Downwind Communities

“…When time is construed as scarce then critical reflection and inquiry, whether by scientists developing the first atomic bomb or residents downwind of continental testing, can appear as unreasonable and instrumentally irrational. Moreover, the elicitation of fear among the general public, Ungar (, ) observes, was a tactic employed during the Cold War to gain political leverage and thus increase spending on and expand the U.S. military‐industrial complex…”

Eisenhower's Paradoxical Relationship with the “Military‐Industrial Complex”

“…Taking Joseph McCarthy's side in his battle with John Foster Dulles, Wood ascribed the clash to “internationalists and pinks” among Eisenhower's advisors and encouraged the senator's exposure of “traitors and perverts in our State Department.” While he was trying to protect McCarthy from attack by the “Reds, the pinks and the so‐called liberals,” Wood organized “Real Republicans” to counter “Modern Republicanism” in For America. Staffed by MacArthur loyalists, For America opposed the “Communist menace” and “One Worlders” as threats to national sovereignty and lobbied on behalf of the attainment of “overwhelming global air supremacy.” In the aftermath of McCarthy's censure, Wood bluntly told White House Chief of Staff Sherman Adams that the administration had made “a grave mistake” in failing to defend the Senator leaving the White House staff in no doubt of his place among the President's conservative critics (For America 1955; McCormick 1954; Ungar 1990; Wolfe 1984; Wood 1953b, 1954a, 1954b).…”

“…Staffed by MacArthur loyalists, For America opposed the "Communist menace" and "One Worlders" as threats to national sovereignty and lobbied on behalf of the attainment of "overwhelming global air supremacy." In the aftermath of McCarthy's censure, Wood bluntly told White House Chief of Staff Sherman Adams that the administration had made "a grave mistake" in failing to defend the Senator leaving the White House staff in no doubt of his place among the President's conservative critics (For America 1955;McCormick 1954;Ungar 1990;Wolfe 1984;Wood 1953bWood , 1954aWood , 1954b.…”

Ignorance as an under‐identified social problem1

“…The advent of Sputnik – it was the first satellite launched by the Soviets in 1957 – affords a reasonable starting point for the information revolution. Having been beaten into space, the USA revamped its public education system, commenced mass university education, raced to launch satellites, and initiated the quest for miniaturization and enhanced computing power (Ungar 1990). 3 Sputnik spawned new expectations for science and technology in particular, and knowledge in general.…”