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Letter and Envelope dated
April 2, 1982, physicist Edward Teller—often called the "father of the hydrogen bomb"—expresses his support for a modified version of the "Open Skies" policy to Lawrence W. Fritz, a Senior Policy Analyst at the White House.
Key Details of the Letter:
Context: Teller is responding to a paper by Fritz regarding the U.S. "Open Skies" policy, a concept originally proposed by President Eisenhower in 1955 to allow mutual aerial surveillance between the U.S. and the Soviet Union to reduce the risk of nuclear war.
The "Proposal C" Endorsement: Teller specifically favors the adoption of a modified version of the policy, which he identifies as "Proposal C" in Fritz’s paper.
Historical References: Teller mentions his own "Open Skies" proposals from 1972 and 1976, which he prepared with the help of his Livermore associate, Charles L. Teevan. In 1971, Teller had publicly advocated for "reopening the skies" using orbiting satellites instead of aircraft.
Collaborators: The letter mentions Charles L. Teevan as a close associate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and is copied (cc'd) to G. Keyworth (George Keyworth, President Reagan’s science adviser) and V. Reis (Victor Reis).
Significant Figures:
Edward Teller: Co-founder and former director of LLNL, Teller was a primary advocate for the development of the hydrogen bomb and later a key supporter of Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI or "Star Wars").
Lawrence W. Fritz: A specialist in photogrammetry and remote sensing, Fritz served in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) under the Executive Office of the President. |
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