Ward Wilson

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Ward Hayes Wilson (born April 26, 1956) is a Senior Fellow and director of the Rethinking Nuclear Weapons project at the British American Security Information Council (BASIC), a think tank focusing on nuclear disarmament based in London and Washington, D.C. He lives and works in Trenton, New Jersey.

Career[]

Although Wilson was not widely published in the nuclear weapons field until 2007, he has quickly moved into “the forefront” of the debate about the value and utility of nuclear weapons and deterrence.[1][2][3] He is one of five co-authors of a 2010 report sponsored by the Swiss government titled “Devaluing Nuclear Weapons,”[4]

Wilson is best known for his argument that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not force Japan's surrender;[5][6] a prevalent argument which some have recently come to challenge.[7]

Wilson was awarded the top prize ($10,000) in the Doreen and Jim McElvany Nonproliferation Challenge in 2008 for his “impressive and detailed critique of nuclear deterrence.”[8] He received a substantial grant the following year to write, travel, and speak on nuclear weapons issues.[9] Traveling extensively over the last four years, he has presented arguments that challenge accepted ideas about nuclear weapons before government and public audiences on six continents. Wilson has spoken at the State Department, the Pentagon, the U.K. House of Commons, the European Parliament, the Brookings Institution, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Naval War College, and universities including Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Georgetown, and University of Chicago.[10] Wilson launched his book, Five Myths About Nuclear Weapons, at the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs in February 2013.[11]

Awards and honors[]

  • RFK Fellow, The Robert Kennedy Memorial Foundation, 1981.
  • Doreen and Jim McElvaney Prize, 2008. A $10,000 for the best essay on nuclear weapons worldwide in 2008.

Works[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Tertrais, Bruno, “Four Straw Men of the Apocalypse,” Survival, 2013.
  2. ^ Asghar, Rizwan, The 'nuclear deterrence works' fantasy, Daily Times Pakistan, The ‘nuclear deterrence works’ fantasy
  3. ^ Mitra, Debasish. "Bombing Hiroshima, Nagasaki was a crime". Times of Oman. Retrieved 11 July 2014.[dead link]
  4. ^ Ken Berry, Patricia Lewis, Benoit Pelopedas, Nikolai Sokov, and Ward Wilson, "Delegitimizing Nuclear Weapons.”[dead link]
  5. ^ Ward Wilson. The Winning Weapon? Rethinking Nuclear Weapons in Light of Hiroshima, International Security, 2007.[dead link]
  6. ^ Ward Wilson. The Bomb Didn’t Beat Japan ... Stalin Did: Have 70 years of nuclear policy been based on a lie?, Foreign Policy, May 30, 2013
  7. ^ Gareth Cook. The deterrent that wasn’t, The Boston Globe, August 7, 2011.
  8. ^ Ward Wilson. The Myth of Nuclear Deterrence, James Martin Center, 2008
  9. ^ "Doreen & Jim McElvany Nonproliferation Challenge".[dead link]
  10. ^ "Ward Wilson, Senior Fellow & Director of the Rethinking Nuclear Weapons project | BASIC - British American Security Information Council". Basicint.org. Retrieved 2014-06-06.[dead link]
  11. ^ "UNODA Update - Ward Wilson, author of "Five Myths About Nuclear Weapons" presents his book at the United Nations". Un.org. Retrieved 2014-06-06.
  12. ^ "Output". Rethinkingnuclearweapons.org. Retrieved 2014-06-06.[dead link]

External links[]

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