Hello all!
My name is Priscilla McMillan. I am the author of a book published in 2005, The Ruin of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Birth of the Modern Arms Race. I am also the author of Khrushchev and the Arts and Marina and Lee, the story of Lee Harvey Oswald.
If you care about nuclear arms control, a more open government, civil liberties, and how America got embroiled in the cold war conflict that ultimately culminated in the great Star Wars deception, then the Ruin of J. Robert Oppenheimer is a must read for you. If you haven’t read my book yet, read the section following this, About My Book, for an overview.
Some of you may already have read my book. If so, I’d love to hear from you what you thought of the book, and how you have used it, or are using it, in your studies or work. You can use the comment feature of the blog, or email me at priscillamcmillan@gmail.com. I’ll summarize comments about the book, and how people are using the book, in a future posting.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
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2 comments:
I enjoyed the book immensely. I have already passed it on. I have read a number of books on the Oppenheimer era and his life. Can also recommend "American Prometheus." That won a Pulitzer Prize for biograph.
Take issue however with your characterization of the Continuty of Governement (COG) as part of the federal civil defense program. That latter program by the way ended in November 1994 after the statute that authorized it was repealed by P.L. 103-337. It had originally been enacted in 1952 by Public Law 920 of the 81st Congress. COG was separately authorized, funded, and implemented almost from its beginnings in 1957 and was never administered as part of the federal civil defense program. In fact, the Federal Preparedness Agency in GSA administered the COG program from 1973 to 1979, and the Federal Civil Defense Agency in DOD administered the civil defense program from 1972 to 1979. Both programs became part of the new FEMA in July 1979 under Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 as implemented by E.O. 12148 but were administered by different directorates almost from the beginning in FEMA. Civil defense was in the State and Local Programs and Support Directorate of FEMA from 1981 to 1993. COG was in the Emergency Operations Directorate during that same period. The civil defense budget was incorporated in the HUD Independent Agency Appropriation as of FY1981, and the COG budget was contained in a classified annex to the DOD budget the whole time. Civil defense was never utilized to make policy as of the formation of FEMA but a series of NSDDs ending with NSDD 66 attempted to prevent that program from being entirely meaningless since its primary purpose from 1974 was to fund state and local emergency management. Oddly enough its authorization was by the Senate and House Armed Services Committees. Once the statut was repealed their substantial oversight of FEMA ended. As always should you recieve information correcting this information I would appreciate receiving it.
P. 209 of your book: Harold Cherniss was not "an art historian". He was a distinguished historian of ancient Greek philosophy. He had also known Oppie briefly at Berkeley when Oppie first went there.
p. 252, line 6: "a butler"; you must mean a hot plate of some kind; "butler" is not a normal word for such a device. And the liqueurless peaches! That perhaps tells us more about your lifestyle than Oppie's.
p. 256, lines 6-7: "the presidential campaign of that year" erroneously refers back to 1957 in line 1; it was, of course, 1956.
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