Mike Lawler: Edward Teller
Quotes
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Robert Oppenheimer : What do we think about the Nazis? They killed six million people. What will the world say about America and democracy if we kill six million people with our hydrogen bombs? Or ten million, or 20 million?
Edward Teller : They will not be used. The function is to *prevent* war.
Robert Oppenheimer : But that's insanity, Edward. Will we build the single most violent, destructive, indiscriminate weapon ever conceived by mankind to prevent war? A weapon so randomly destructive, it cannot possible have a military value? It's not a weapon of war; it's a weapon of genocide.
Edward Teller : Perhaps so. But you are
[shouts]
Edward Teller : naïve! Naïve, if you believe that Russian scientists will not also be considering how to fuse isotopes of hydrogen. And if they build a hydrogen bomb, then we must build the hydrogen bomb. It is beyond morality. We have no choice.
