December 8, 1953: Atoms for Peace

December 8, 1953: President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his "Atoms for Peace" speech to the United Nations.

The speech was part of a carefully orchestrated media campaign, called Operation Candor, to enlighten the American public on the risks and hopes of a nuclear future. Both Operation Candor and Atoms for Peace were influenced by the January 1953 report of the State Department Panel of Consultants on Disarmament, which urged that the U.S. government practice less secrecy and more honesty toward the American people about the realities of the nuclear balance and the dangers of nuclear warfare, which triggered in Eisenhower a desire to seek a new and different approach to the threat of nuclear war in international relations.

"It is with the book of history," Eisenhower said, "and not with isolated pages, that the United States will ever wish to be identified. My country wants to be constructive, not destructive. It wants agreement, not wars, among nations. It wants itself to live in freedom, and in the confidence that the people of every other nation enjoy equally the right of choosing their own way of life."

"Ike" added: "To the making of these fateful decisions, the United States pledges before you -- and, therefore, before the world, its determination to help solve the fearful atomic dilemma -- to devote its entire heart and mind to find the way by which the miraculous inventiveness of man shall not be dedicated to his death, but consecrated to his life."

The "Atoms for Peace" program opened up nuclear research to civilians and countries that had not previously possessed nuclear technology. Eisenhower argued for a nonproliferation agreement throughout the world, which would become a partial reality with the Test Ban Treat in 1963.

He also argued for a stop of the spread of military use of nuclear weapons. Although the nations that already had atomic weapons kept their weapons and grew their supplies, very few other countries have developed similar weapons. In this sense, it has been very much contained.

The "Atoms for Peace" program also created regulations for the use of nuclear power, and through these regulations stopped other countries from developing weapons while allowing the technology to be used for positive means.

In 2009, a rock music "supergroup" named Atoms for Peace was formed. Its members were Radiohead's songwriter, guitarist and singer Thom Yorke, and its producer and keyboard player Nigel Godrich; Red Hot Chili Peppers bass guitarist Michael "Flea" Balzary and percussionist Mauro Refosco; and Beck drummer Joey Waronker.

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December 8, 1953 was a Tuesday. Comedian Sam Kinison and actress Kim Basinger were born that day.

Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. No games were scheduled for the NHL. One game was played in the NBA: The Rochester Royals beat the Boston Celtics, 97-79 at the Edgerton Park Arena in Rochester, New York.