The Best Presidents on Arms Control
* What: Efforts to control or end biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons by Presidents Lincoln, Harding, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Obama.
* The Number of Lives Saved:
* A full scale nuclear war could have killed billions worldwide. Nuclear weapons are far more deadly than any other weapons ever invented by mankind, potentially ending all life on the planet.
* Chemical weapons actually have death rates slightly lower than conventional bombing. Biological weapons tend to be very unpredictable and harm the user as much as the target. For some nations, the earlier preferred use of biological weapons was far more disturbing. These nations, including the US, preferred to let nature's own diseases wipe out indigenous people, and they “helped” along the process by deliberate forced starvation, making indigenous people very vulnerable to disease. This fits the definition of genocide.
* Who Else Deserves Credit:
* Peace activists and human rights groups worldwide, including within Communist countries, deserve the greatest credit for working to end nuclear war.
* The second greatest credit for ending the threat of nuclear war goes to Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev.
* Chinese Premier Deng Xiaoping deserves the greatest credit for ending the threat of war between China and the US.
* German Prime Minister Willy Brandt was the first leader to try to end the Cold War, beginning from his time originally as the mayor of West Berlin.
* A worldwide anti nuclear weapons movement succeeded in getting nuclear weapons free zones across Africa, Central Asia, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the South Pacific. There have been several attempts at a nuclear weapons free zone in the Mideast, undercut by Israel's opposition and possession of 100 to 200 H-bombs, and formerly by Iraq's efforts to build an A-bomb back in the 1980s. Contrary to sensational propaganda claims, Iran never tried to develop nuclear weapons. There was also an attempt at a Nordic nuclear-free zone, failing because it also tried to ban nuclear power. Mongolia also declared itself a nuclear weapons free zone.
* The UN succeeded in barring nuclear weapons from Antarctica, the ocean beds, and in space. The greatest successes the UN can point to is its ban on chemical weapons agreed to by 190 out of 196 nations in the world and its Non Proliferation Treaty, in which all but nine countries in the world agreed to never develop nuclear weapons. The nine nations with nuclear weapons, in order from most to least are: US, USSR, France, UK, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea.
* South Africa's apartheid regime, in its last dying days, developed six A-bombs in the 1980’s, then dismantled them by the early 1990’s. President FW de Clerk realized they were expensive, had little military use, only made their nation and the region less stable, and would only have turned world opinion further against South Africa. Israel and South Africa both worked together to build their first nuclear weapons.
* Nine US presidents deserve limited credit for trying to limit nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. The list includes both sides of the political spectrum and both parties, from moderates like Eisenhower, Carter, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Obama to hardcore anti-Communists like Kennedy, Nixon, and Reagan. (Notably, there has not been a liberal president elected since the start of Cold War, none besides Franklin Roosevelt.) That so many presidents and other leaders of WMD armed nations tried to end or reduce these weapons tells something very obvious: Each leader ultimately recognized the incredible threat of nuclear (and to a far lesser extent biochemical) warfare, no matter how ideologically blind they may have once been.
* Lincoln was both the first US president to condemn chemical weapons and the first to propose a code of conduct for war, influencing other world leaders. Immediately after the Emancipation, Confederate leaders issued one of the most surreal claims ever made by any leader: They argued freeing and arming former slaves, or Blacks whether free or slave, was against the laws of civilized nations, and would be condemned by the world. In fact, freeing and arming slaves had been done by the British, French, and by American leaders during both the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Even Andrew Jackson, a slave trader, freed slaves to fight at the Battle of New Orleans.
* The Confederacy publicly declared all Blacks, whether free or former slaves, would be executed or re enslaved. Lincoln responded with the Lieber Code, a defense of emancipation. The code forbade “poisons” in warfare, assassinations of enemy leaders, executions of POWs, and limited any punishment of civilians to property seizure and imprisonment. The Lieber Code later influenced the Hague Convention in 1899 called by the Tsar of Russia.
* The first US president to push for an end to WMDs internationally was Harding, otherwise an undistinguished incompetent known for his administration's many scandals. The Washington Arms Conference Treaty in 1922 proposed banning all chemical weapons. The ban failed because the French government opposed it, though the treaty did limit the size of navies.
* Eisenhower agreed to a nuclear test ban treaty in 1958, but it was not his idea. He agreed privately, but publicly was pushed into it by others. Adlai Stevenson, his opponent in the 1952 and 1956 elections, was one of two leaders to propose it. Soviet leader Khrushchev had proposed the idea since 1955. In 1958 he announced the USSR would stop testing on its own, and Ike then announced the US would also for one year. The test ban was undermined by the scandal over an American U-2 spy plane being shot down. Both sides finally agreed to the ban in 1962. Both the US and USSR hoped the test ban would pressure China to not develop its nuclear weapons. That failed. Kennedy also agreed to a direct hotline between the Soviets and the US after the confused bumbling of the Cuban missile crisis.
* Nixon barred almost all weapons designed to shoot down nuclear missiles. Nixon also proposed an end to all chemical and biological weapons, and the US began to destroy its stockpiles. The SALT I and SALT II treaties limited nuclear weapons themselves for the first time. This makes Nixon the most successful world leader in ending WMDs, with the exception of Gorbachev. But as noted elsewhere, Nixon's motives were not noble but selfish. He hoped to secure a place for himself in history as an admired man. Still, Nixon deserve credit for badly needed humanitarian accomplishments, even if for his own self aggrandizement. As far as biochemical weapons, Nixon also realized they are militarily not only almost useless, they are self destructive and destabilizing.
* Carter continued with the SALT II treaty. Congress refused to ratify it, but Carter agreed to observe its terms anyway. Reagan led the opposition to SALT II and tried to undercut both Nixon's ban on anti ballistic missiles and the US ban on weapons in space by his “Star Wars” program. Only after Reagan consulted with his wife's astrologer and numerology did he finally agree to nuclear negotiations. Both Reagan and Bush Sr. agreed to the greatest arms cuts in history, well beyond what Nixon achieved. But they did so in response to Gorbachev's reforms, and he deserves most of the credit. In fact, Reagan delayed and turned down negotiations that Soviet leaders wanted back in 1981.
* In 1991, Bush Sr. pulled US nuclear weapons out of South Korea to try to defuse tensions between the two Koreas. Clinton successfully delayed North Korea from developing nuclear weapons for almost a decade. North Korea had been trying to develop its own A-bombs since the early 1960s, and by the early 1990s were close. The US essentially bribed the North Korean government, giving them oil, food, and money to hold off building their weapons.
* Outsiders often misunderstand North Korea, admittedly one of the most difficult and isolated societies to interpret. Its leaders' provocative statements and actions are virtually the only way for them to get aid, for North Korea has nothing that outsiders want except for them to not be a threat. GW Bush and his administration did not understand that, and so issued its own angry let's-get-tough statements, then were naively surprised when their attempts to negotiate failed. By 2003, North Korea admitted to nuclear weapons. GW Bush's angry statements got nowhere with North Korea for the rest of his presidency. Bush also set back disarmament treaties by pushing, as Reagan had, for a missile defense system.
* At the start of his presidency, Obama proposed an end to all nuclear weapons worldwide. The New START treaty was signed in 2010 and cuts the number of nuclear warheads by two thirds from the original START treaty. By the end of this treaty, the number of nuclear weapons will be down to less than 2,000 each for the US and USSR. This is far from abolished, but it is still a great achievement. It is the latest in a number of huge steps from when the arms race was at its worst in Reagan's time, with over 60,000 nuclear weapons between the two nations. Obama proposed in 2013 even further cuts, yet one third more of all long range nuclear weapons.
* Obama's final accomplishments on weapons of mass destruction are two. First, in a stand off with Syria, the dictator Assad agreed to give up his chemical weapons. The second is a treaty insuring Iran will never try to develop them. In part this is a treaty that exists to placate the right wing on a problem that did not exist, except as an excuse to punish Iran. Iran not only never tried to develop weapons, its reactors never enriched uranium above 20%, and only for electric power and medical research. For nuclear weapons, one needs at least 95% purity. Though the treaty is a landmark and benefits Israel more than anyone, the Israeli right wing and its US supporters complain, believe it or not, that the treaty prevents the war they want. As of this writing, the treaty has already begun, and its opponents failed to stop it. Future editions will update this section.