How a US defense secretary came to support the abolition of nuclear weapons

ABSTRACT

A personal history of how former US Defense Secretary William J. Perry’s thinking on nuclear weapons has evolved from Hiroshima to the present time.

KEYWORDS:

• Abolition of nuclear weapons
• nuclear war
• nuclear blunder
• sole authority
• launch on warning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. See https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/11/fact-sheet-prague-nuclear-agenda#:~:text=%E2%80%9CSo%20today%2C%20I%20state%20clearly,a%20world%20without%20nuclear%20weapons.&text=But%20now%20we%2C%20too%2C%20must,%2C%20ʹYes%2C%20we%20can

Additional information

Notes on contributors

William J. Perry

William J. Perry served as undersecretary of defense for research and engineering in the Carter administration and then as secretary of defense in the Clinton administration. He oversaw the development of the strategic nuclear systems that are currently in our arsenal. His new offset strategy ushered in the age of stealth, smart weapons, GPS, and technologies that changed the face of modern warfare. In 2007, Perry joined forces with George Shultz, Sam Nunn, and Henry Kissinger to publish several groundbreaking editorials in the Wall Street Journal that linked the vision of a world free from nuclear weapons with urgent but practical steps that could be taken to reduce nuclear dangers. Perry’s 2015 memoir, My Journey at the Nuclear Brink, is a personal account of his lifelong effort to reduce nuclear dangers. He founded the William J. Perry Project to educate the public on these dangers and is the Michael and Barbara Berberian Professor (emeritus) at Stanford University. Perry is the chair of the Bulletin’s Board of Sponsors.