Los Alamos Historical Society Executive Director Heather McClenahan explains why Hans Bethe remains a beloved figure in Los Alamos. In a 1982 interview, Bethe discussed the threat of nuclear war.
Narrator: Hans Bethe remains a beloved figure in Los Alamos for his contributions to science, which earned him the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physics, and for promoting the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Later in his life, he spoke out against the further development of nuclear weapons.
Heather McClenahan: Hans became really a conscience for Los Alamos. He was a man who said, “If we’re going to be building these weapons, we need to have a say in how they’re used and where they’re used,” and those sorts of things.
For many years, he would come back to Los Alamos. He worked extensively on the Cold War on the hydrogen bomb and subsequent weapons that were developed over time.
Because of his greatness as a scientist, his greatness as a teacher, his greatness as that conscience of Los Alamos, we have called this the Hans Bethe House to honor him.
Narrator: In a 1982 interview with Oppenheimer biographer Martin Sherwin, Bethe expounded on the threat of nuclear war during the Cold War.
Hans Bethe: If nuclear war were started, it threatens us at least as much as the Russians. And so it is no longer a useful threat against the Soviets.
Also, it is no longer true that the Russians have great dominance in conventional weapons. Of course, they have enormous manpower. Of course, they have very large numbers of tanks. Of course, they have been building up their conventional strength quite strongly in recent times.
However, their allies are not dependable. I think our allies are dependable—as long as they are not afraid of being destroyed by our trying to save them.