Fallout: Part 3

by Steve Sheinkin
In this follow-up to Bomb, the award-winning author shows how the development of the atomic bomb led to tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union that threatened massive destruction for nearly fifty years after World War II.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Prologue–Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. debris
    the remains of something that has been destroyed
    The asteroid’s impact blasted debris high into the atmosphere, creating a blanket of soot that blocked sunlight and caused the planet to cool by a global average of fifteen degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. colonnade
    structure consisting of a row of evenly spaced columns
    After breakfast in bed with a stack of newspapers, he dressed in one of his hand-tailored suits and walked with his four-year-old daughter, Caroline, down the outdoor colonnade to the West Wing.
  3. ail
    be unwell
    Before lunch he’d swim laps in the White House pool, originally installed so Franklin D. Roosevelt could exercise muscles damaged by polio. Kennedy kept the water heated to ninety degrees to soothe his ailing back.
  4. convoy
    a collection of merchant ships with an escort of warships
    The convoys of Soviet ships continued across the Atlantic through summer and into the fall of 1962. American military planes circled overhead, taking pictures. As far as the pilots could see, the ships really did carry farm supplies.
  5. capsize
    overturn accidentally
    “Soon the storm will break loose,” he said to Oleg Troyanovsky, one of his top foreign policy aides, when they were back in the premier’s office in Moscow.
    Troyanovsky took the storm analogy one disturbing step further. “Let’s hope,” he said, “the boat will not capsize altogether.”
  6. engagement
    a hostile meeting of opposing military forces
    So, yes, with such a weapon, a single submarine really could start the next world war. Which brought up the obvious matter of rules of engagement. Under what conditions, asked the commanders, were the weapons to be used?
  7. weld
    join together by heating
    Before the reactor could melt down and explode, volunteers crawled into the reactor compartment and welded together a backup cooling system.
  8. ballast
    any heavy material used to stabilize a ship or airship
    The crew opened the boat’s ballast tanks, allowing seawater to rush in. The sub’s bow dipped, and the boat slid beneath the surface.
  9. maintain
    state or assert
    “Ray, our worst fears are coming to pass in Cuba.”
    “Are you fellows sure?”
    “Yes, I am sorry to have to maintain it, but we are sure.”
  10. intact
    undamaged in any way
    The riskiest move he could make would be an air strike that left some of the missile sites intact. One danger was that those weapons could be fired at the United States.
  11. assumption
    a hypothesis that is taken for granted
    LeMay’s view of the Cold War was driven by the assumption that the Soviet Union and the United States were on a collision course. At some point, he believed, the United States was going to face a choice: surrender to the Soviet Union or destroy it.
  12. blunder
    commit a faux pas or a fault or make a serious mistake
    Khrushchev, he argued, had blundered by picking a fight in a part of the world where America was stronger.
  13. contempt
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    Normally, LeMay at least tried to hide his contempt for the young president. That was out the window now. A blockade was weak, he charged. It would only invite the Soviets to attack. It was the act of a coward.
  14. unanimous
    in complete agreement
    Kennedy wanted a unanimous recommendation, but the team was divided between advising a blockade or an air strike.
  15. proponent
    a person who argues for a cause or puts forward an idea
    In the White House’s second-floor Oval Room, air strike and blockade proponents battled it out for three hours.
  16. speculate
    reflect deeply on a subject
    American tanks, artillery, and thousands of soldiers headed to Florida by truck, railroad, and airplane. The American press speculated about the meaning of these developments.
  17. incur
    make oneself subject to
    “My fellow citizens,” Kennedy said, “let no one doubt that this is a difficult and dangerous effort on which we have set out. No one can see precisely what course it will take or what costs or casualties will be incurred.”
  18. imminent
    close in time; about to occur
    DEFCON 5 is normal peacetime readiness, while DEFCON 4 is an increased state of readiness. At DEFCON 3, nuclear missile and bomber crews are ready to go in fifteen minutes.
    DEFCON 2, one step short of war, had never been reached to this point in the Cold War.
    DEFCON 1 means imminent nuclear war.
  19. radical
    markedly new or introducing extreme change
    At television stations, which normally went off the air overnight, executives considered the radical idea of broadcasting news twenty-four hours a day.
  20. ultimatum
    a final peremptory demand
    “Just imagine, Mr. President,” the message began, “that we had presented you with the conditions of an ultimatum which you have presented us.”
  21. don
    put on clothes
    In case Washington had already been hit, the soldiers would don radiation suits, smash down the bunker door, and wrap the president in protective clothing before heading out.
  22. grim
    not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty
    He found a range of emotions: fear, anger, and most of all, grim determination.
  23. trajectory
    the path followed by an object moving through space
    Only after racing to calculate the trajectories of the fragments could Air Force personnel report that the flying objects were not coming over the North Pole toward American cities.
  24. pithy
    concise and full of meaning
    “It seems that Kennedy went to sleep with a wooden knife.”
    Nothing. Crickets.
    Soviet officials were used to Nikita’s pithy proverbs, but no one got this one.
  25. bluff
    pretense that your position is stronger than it really is
    The missiles in Cuba had always been a bluff.
    The goal was to give the Americans a taste of their own medicine, to make them live with a bit more fear.
  26. saboteur
    someone who deliberately destroys or disrupts something
    Back at Duluth Airport, soldiers searched for the saboteur. They inspected the damaged fence he’d tried to climb.
  27. sextant
    an instrument for measuring angular distance
    The trouble began as he approached Earth’s magnetic north pole. The needle of his compass started to swing and spin, unable to point north since north was straight down. Expecting this, the pilot was prepared to navigate as sea captains had done for centuries, using star charts and a sextant.
  28. clobber
    strike violently and repeatedly
    Charges began to hit the boat directly, clobbering the hull like a hammer on a pail.
  29. delicate
    difficult to handle; requiring great tact
    This was a delicate issue. This was why Bobby wanted to meet, to deliver a private message about the American missiles in Turkey.
  30. devolve
    pass on or delegate to another
    “I have received your message of October 27. I express satisfaction and thank you for the sense of proportion you have displayed and for realization of the responsibility which now devolves on you for the preservation of peace throughout the world.”
  31. induce
    cause to act in a specified manner
    “I regard with respect and trust the statement you made in your message of October 27, that there will be no attack, no invasion,” read Levitan. “In that case, the motives which induced us to render assistance of such a kind to Cuba disappear.”
  32. render
    give or supply
    “I regard with respect and trust the statement you made in your message of October 27, that there will be no attack, no invasion,” read Levitan. “In that case, the motives which induced us to render assistance of such a kind to Cuba disappear.”
  33. earnest
    characterized by a firm, sincere belief in one's opinions
    “It is my earnest hope that the governments of the world can, with a solution of the Cuban crisis, turn their urgent attention to the compelling necessity for ending the arms race and reducing world tension.”
  34. compelling
    driving or forcing
    “It is my earnest hope that the governments of the world can, with a solution of the Cuban crisis, turn their urgent attention to the compelling necessity for ending the arms race and reducing world tension.”
  35. appeal
    be attractive to
    He talked about Abraham Lincoln, who’d gone to a play right after winning the Civil War—and everyone knows how that turned out. Something about the gory image appealed to Kennedy’s dark sense of humor.
  36. archivist
    a person in charge of a repository of documents and records
    Jacob pulled out his diplomatic ID, which showed that he was a secretary and archivist at the American embassy.
  37. initiate
    set in motion, start an event or prepare the way for
    What if the Americans in Moscow had relayed this information straight to the White House? What if Kennedy had initiated an American response?
  38. disciplined
    trained mentally or physically by instruction or exercise
    When the news reached Britain, the public was particularly intrigued by the spy’s alleged connection with a British citizen named Janet Chisholm. Reporters surrounded Chisholm’s home in England, begging for juicy details. She was far too disciplined to offer any.
  39. reprimand
    rebuke formally
    Promptly ordered to Moscow, the sub commanders were reprimanded for “allowing” themselves to be detected by the Americans.
  40. rankle
    make resentful or angry
    Most of the world saw Khrushchev’s retreat as a sign of weakness. Soviet officials considered the entire episode a national humiliation. This really rankled Khrushchev—one setback was not the end of the world.
Created on Tue Sep 03 10:53:01 EDT 2024 (updated Wed Sep 04 16:12:03 EDT 2024)

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