MEMO FROM THE EDITOR
MEMO from the Editor Secret History It looks like a coffee-table book—large format, glossy paper, lots of pretty pictures, many of them in full color. But all the pictures are of nuclear weapons...
...Nuclear Weapons: I wrote the foreword to the book, and in it I said: "Most Americans seem to have bought whole-hog the notion that there are many things they are simply better off not knowing...
...Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History...
...They cited Hansen's effort as their reason for dropping the case against The Progressive...
...Nuclear Weapons Gust published at $29.95 by Orion Books, a division of Crown Publishers), has achieved something remarkable: Using only public sources, including many declassified or unclassified documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, Hansen has compiled what is, I believe, the definitive—though unofficial—history of the U.S...
...Arthur Miller died on May 13, at the age of seventy-one, at his retirement home in Key West, Florida, leaving many Americans including the editors and readers of The Progressive in his debt...
...His wholesome mistrust of authority, his insistence on knowing the facts so that he can make up his own mind, make him the kind of citizen the founders of this Republic had in mind when they embraced the assumption of popular self-government...
...At best, a casual browser may find it upsetting...
...I've had the experience more than once, when talking about specifics of the nuclear arms race, of having a listener extend an arm as if to fend me off, while saying, 'Don't tell me about that...
...Over a period of some twenty years, Arthur S. Miller contributed many articles and reviews to this magazine...
...Leave it on your coffee table at your own risk...
...Hansen, who spent more than a dozen years compiling the information in his new book, says he already has enough data to start work on a revised and expanded edition...
...He simply can't stand knowing stuff that isn't available to all the rest of us...
...At worst, a self-appointed guardian of the nation's military secrets might try to turn you in to the Feds...
...Under my own Freedom of Information request, I recently obtained documents that show how successful Hansen was in rattling the DOE's cage...
...Though Chuck and I have some serious political differences, we are in total agreement on one essential point: We hate official secrecy and deception...
...Fortunately, the author of this book is a different kind of American—one who wants to know...
...Right here I ought to state my interest: Chuck Hansen is a friend, and has been since he played a major role in The Progressive's 1979 dispute with the Federal Government over publication of Howard Morland's article, "The H-Bomb Secret...
...Chuck Hansen, the author of U.S...
...I don't want to know.' And so secrecy thrives while our democracy founders...
...Finally, he came up with his own design and had it published, the final straw so far as the Government's censors were concerned...
...In 1979, when the Government sought and obtained a court order blocking publication of the Morland article, Hansen— who had already begun his own research into nuclear weapons—sprang into action...
...For serious students of the arms race, it is likely to be a crucially important source of information for years to come...
...Another champion of freedom of information who came to The Progressive's assistance in 1979 was Arthur S. Miller, who had recently retired from a distinguished career as a professor of constitutional law at George Washington University...
...But all the pictures are of nuclear weapons or nuclear-weapons tests, and the book is called U.S...
...The very idea of secrecy offends Chuck Hansen, and as this book testifies, when he's offended he does something about it...
...He volunteered his services to our attorneys and labored heroically in our behalf...
...In an extremely effective attempt at puncturing the Government's silly claims of secrecy, he conducted a highly publicized "Design Your Own H-Bomb" contest...
...He was the author of more than a dozen books, many of them severely critical of established American institutions and of his own profession...
...He once referred to the education given law students in this country as "an unrecognized form of brain damage...
...He wrote innumerable letters to the Department of Energy (DOE) and various members of Congress...
...the FBI was set on his tail, and Secretary of Energy James Schlesinger made strenuous efforts to have him prosecuted...
...I have another interest (though not a financial one) in U.S...
...He's made a conscientious effort to tell the truth—all of it—and that's more than I can say for any member of our Government's nuclear priesthood...
...nuclear-weapons program...
Vol. 52 • July 1988 • No. 7
