Richard Rhodes: commitment

Transcript context

…They need their lovers, they need their bombs. The British had to have the bomb because they knew how to build one. They'd worked with us all during the war, and then we'd cut them off from a supply of uranium and from any new developments along the way. And most of all, because the British Empire was bankrupt by the end of the Second World War, and Churchill was determined to get the bomb because without it, his country would fall away and wouldn't get to sit at the table with the big boys. So they had the typical reasons for getting bombs because you don't want to be left out because of the prestige, or because you have a mortal enemy who's got the bomb or is getting the bomb. That's North Korea, that's Iraq. Its attempt, it didn't get there. That's Pakistan and India. We, because of Germany. The Soviets, because of us. By and large, the countries that did go toward the bomb, finally built bombs because they were afraid of another country having the bomb. And everyone else stood back and said, well, if you'll protect us with atomic bombs, when somebody comes calling here in South Korea or Germany or wherever, we won't build them and share your knowledge of how to make energy out of nuclear power. There's easily another three hours of questions I could ask you. I can't say I want to be respectful of your time because I haven't been with the extra hour I've taken, but I want to be less than totally disrespectful of your time. So I guess the final question that we can go out on is — In the next 50 years, what odds do you put on a non-test nuke going off?…

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