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Nuclear Weapons in Vietnam, Essays (university) of Modern History

Discusses the proposed use of nuclear weapons in the Vietnam conflict and an article by Barbara Bick on why they should not be used.

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2024/2025

Uploaded on 04/10/2025

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Hodgkin 1
Caleb Hodgkin
Professor Hammond
Modern US History
20 February 2025
Nuclear Weapons in Vietnam
During the Vietnam war, the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons against Vietcong
forces was considered and discussed by the United States government. Barbara Bick, the editor
for Memo, wrote an article detailing what a tactical nuclear weapon is and the repercussions of
using such a device in Vietnam. Bick was against the deployment of nuclear weapons and
outlined the consequences of their use and provides detailed explanations on the dangerous
results. Bick’s detailed presentation of the hazards of deploying tactical nuclear weapons in the
Vietnam conflict makes it clear that deploying these weapons in the conflict would have had
disastrous results.1
Barbara Bick had a long history as a writer and activist. During the 1940s, she worked as
a columnist in Northern California for the Communist Party paper. Then in the 1960s, during the
Vietnam war, she joined an anti-war organization called the Women Strike for Peace and was the
editor for the group’s newsletter Memo in Washington DC. Later, Bick participated in a liberal
think tank known as the Institute of Policy Studies. It was while she in Women Strike for Peace
that she wrote the article “There Has Been Increasing Talk of Using Tactical Nuclear Weapons in
Vietnam” for Memo.2
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Caleb Hodgkin Professor Hammond Modern US History 20 February 2025 Nuclear Weapons in Vietnam During the Vietnam war, the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons against Vietcong forces was considered and discussed by the United States government. Barbara Bick, the editor for Memo , wrote an article detailing what a tactical nuclear weapon is and the repercussions of using such a device in Vietnam. Bick was against the deployment of nuclear weapons and outlined the consequences of their use and provides detailed explanations on the dangerous results. Bick’s detailed presentation of the hazards of deploying tactical nuclear weapons in the Vietnam conflict makes it clear that deploying these weapons in the conflict would have had disastrous results.^1 Barbara Bick had a long history as a writer and activist. During the 1940s, she worked as a columnist in Northern California for the Communist Party paper. Then in the 1960s, during the Vietnam war, she joined an anti-war organization called the Women Strike for Peace and was the editor for the group’s newsletter Memo in Washington DC. Later, Bick participated in a liberal think tank known as the Institute of Policy Studies. It was while she in Women Strike for Peace that she wrote the article “There Has Been Increasing Talk of Using Tactical Nuclear Weapons in Vietnam” for Memo.^2

In 1968, Vietcong forces surrounded the Khe Sanh military base near the DMZ between North and South Vietnam. General Earle G. Wheeler, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, sent a message to the General in charge of the forces in Vietnam recommending the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons. Bick started the article by stating that the government is be minimizing the effect of the proposed nuclear weapons by calling them tactical when in fact they are typically larger than those used against Japan, with the only difference being that military targets are targeted instead of civilian. Bick was against the use of these weapons in the Vietnam conflict stating, “There would…be a large amount of local fallout and danger to our own troops,” and “The consequences would be catastrophic.”^3 She presented reasons against the use of nuclear weapons because the Women Strike for Peace focused mostly on the restriction of nuclear weapons to prevent a nuclear exchange. Bick stated that if the US had employed nuclear weapons in Vietnam, there would be moral, political, and military repercussions that would turn the world against the United States, encourage others to employ nuclear weapons in future conflicts, and could even “…result in escalation of the war into a [n]uclear World War III.”^4 With the potential of a nuclear escalation, Bick and other members of Women Strike for Peace were against the deployment of weapons of mass destruction in a conflict.5 6 7 Bick’s article shows that people of the time were aware of and concerned about the potential effects that using a nuclear weapon could have. It informed readers of the power that the more advanced nuclear weapons had compared to those dropped on Japan emphasizes the dangers that the use of WMDs in combat presented. It also highlighted how the US government and military were still unsure if nuclear weapons should be used as simply powerful bombs. Many people had good reason to fear a possible nuclear exchange if the government was debating their use. Bick’s breakdown of the potential consequences of a nuclear strike

The author acknowledges the utilization of Copilot, a resource developed by Microsoft, in preparation of this assignment, but not in the composition of this assignment.

  1. Barbara Bick, "There Has Been Increasing Talk of Using Tactical Nuclear Weapons in Vietnam", Memo, Washington, D.C. 6, no. 4 (1968): 17. https://go-gale- com.ezproxy.lib.apsu.edu/ps/retrieve.do? tabID=Newspapers&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=MultiTab&retr ievalId=aeb31914-7b4f-46c8-91e7- 4cae178a06e2&hitCount=480&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=1& docId=GALE %7CGISDQA345955167&docType=Essay&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZWST& prodId=GDCS&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE %7CGISDQA345955167&searchId=R2&userGroupName=tel_a_apsu&inPS=true&aty= ip.
  2. Lauren Wiseman, “Barbara R. Bick Advocate ”, Washington Post Obituaries, July 12,
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/11/AR .html.
  3. Bick, "There Has Been Increasing Talk of Using Tactical Nuclear Weapons in Vietnam", 17
  4. Bick, "There Has Been Increasing Talk of Using Tactical Nuclear Weapons in Vietnam", 17
  1. Dr. Erik Villard, "Did the U.S. Consider Using Nuclear Weapons in Vietnam?", HISTORYNET, February 2022. https://www.historynet.com/nuclear-weapons-vietnam/
  2. Bick, "There Has Been Increasing Talk of Using Tactical Nuclear Weapons in Vietnam", 17
  3. Kathy Crandall Robinson, “The Power of Women Strike for Peace,” Arms Control Association, November 2021. https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2021-11/features/power- women-strike-peace.
  4. Bick, "There Has Been Increasing Talk of Using Tactical Nuclear Weapons in Vietnam", 17