Destruction Repaired and Destruction Anticipated: United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), the Atomic Bomb, and US Policy 1944–6. Issue 5 (19th October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mayers, David
• Is Part Of: International history review. Volume 38:Issue 5(2016)
• Page Start: 961
• Page End: 983
• Publication Date: 2016-10-19
• Subjects: UNRRA -- Acheson-Lilienthal -- destruction; History -- Periodicals; Histoire; History; Internationale politiek; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 905
• DOI: 10.1080/07075332.2016.1144629
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0707-5332

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This analysis examines the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and the Acheson-Lilienthal project and brings into conversation their drafting histories, politics, and diplomacy. Placing them in the same analytical framework, something not hitherto done in the literature, this essay traces the saga of UNRRA and Acheson-Lilienthal and their tandem cold-war fates. As peoples and governments pick their way through the humanitarian dilemmas and atomic hazards of the twenty-first century, it is useful to reflect upon the experiences and lessons of these two long-ago initiatives.