3 December 1950, Korea and the Atomic Bomb

This memorandum compares the public’s interpretation of atomic weapons with that of military authorities. For the public, the bomb holds deeper significance and breeds anxiety, whereas military authorities see it as “just another weapon.” The DEA is sensitive to the “psychological and political consequences of the employment of the bomb,” and its implications for unity of the Atlantic community of nations. There is significant concern that the Korean War could become the third world war, and so due consultation among other UN countries was required. The DEA believed that using the bomb in Korea would threaten alliances and waste the “ultimate strategic weapon in an area of secondary importance.”