Atomic Energy Commission
Dean was appointed by President Harry S. Truman as one of the original Commissioners of the AEC in May 1949, by which time McMahon had become Senator (in 1944), author of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, and chair of the Joint Atomic Energy Committee of Congress. Dean was then appointed as the second Chairman of the AEC beginning in May 1950, following David Lilienthal, again with McMahon's backing. As early as 1950, Dean advocated for the appointment of a Presidential Science Advisor and science advisory task force. Dean served at the time of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's creation in 1952. During Dean's tenure as Chairman, McCarthyism reached its peak. Robert Oppenheimer came under attack by Lewis Strauss, Edward Teller and others for his alleged foot-dragging at Los Alamos. Dean defended Oppenheimer. As Cold War tensions heightened and the Korean War raged on, Dean led a massive industrialization of the United States nuclear facilities. The hydrogen bomb, a nuclear weapon of massive and unprecedented force, was perfected during his tenure as Chairman with the detonation of the Ivy Mike hydrogen bomb, based on Edward Teller's design in October 1952. Dean served for a brief period under President Eisenhower as well, staying until the completion of his term on June 30, 1953.
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Famous quotes containing the words atomic energy, atomic, energy and/or commission:
“The pace of science forces the pace of technique. Theoretical physics forces atomic energy on us; the successful production of the fission bomb forces upon us the manufacture of the hydrogen bomb. We do not choose our problems, we do not choose our products; we are pushed, we are forced—by what? By a system which has no purpose and goal transcending it, and which makes man its appendix.”
—Erich Fromm (1900–1980)
“It is now time to stop and to ask ourselves the question which my last commanding officer, Admiral Hyman Rickover, asked me and every other young naval officer who serves or has served in an atomic submarine. For our Nation M for all of us M that question is, “Why not the best?””
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“After the planet becomes theirs, many millions of years will have to pass before a beetle particularly loved by God, at the end of its calculations will find written on a sheet of paper in letters of fire that energy is equal to the mass multiplied by the square of the velocity of light. The new kings of the world will live tranquilly for a long time, confining themselves to devouring each other and being parasites among each other on a cottage industry scale.”
—Primo Levi (1919–1987)
“A sense of humour keen enough to show a man his own absurdities as well as those of other people will keep a man from the commission of all sins, or nearly all, save those that are worth committing.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)