50th Anniversary Commemorations

Susan Eisenhower Delivers Series of Speeches to Commemorate 50th Anniversary of "Atoms for Peace"

"Atoms for Peace Plus Fifty," The Watergate, Washington, D.C., October 22, 2003 -- Although President Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" speech was given 50 years ago, the impetus to reduce the dangers of nuclear war and to extend the life-giving benefits of the atom remains as valid as ever. Fall and early winter 2003 saw a variety of events marking the anniversary of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" speech to the United Nations General Assembly, culminating with the unveiling of President Eisenhower's statue at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Headquarters in Vienna, Austria on December 4, 2003. Susan Eisenhower, Chairman of the Eisenhower Institute participated in a number of "Atoms for Peace" discussions.

At a Department of Energy conference in Washington, D.C., co-sponsored by the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (IFPA) and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Susan Eisenhower delivered a keynote speech, "President Eisenhower's Vision for Peace." Ms. Eisenhower stressed the importance of her grandfather's vision today, when nuclear power gives promise of clean energy and economic prosperity, but also represents a threat of proliferation. General Andrew J. Goodpaster, the Institute's Senior Fellow, participated in a panel discussion on the historic context of the "Atoms for Peace" speech. The "Atoms for Peace Plus Fifty" conference also hosted other prominent speakers from the broad nuclear energy and scientific community, Congress, Executive Branch, and other governmental offices and agencies.

Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico, October 24, 2003 -- Susan Eisenhower and Dr. Roald Z. Sagdeev, The Eisenhower Institute's Fellow, reflected on the US and the Soviet Union perspectives on the "Atoms for Peace" speech in the Truman Lecture delivered at Sandia National Laboratories. Dwight Eisenhower saw the speech as means to attempt breaking a stalemate between the Soviet Union and the US on disarmament talks and stem the tide of nuclear proliferation. After the speech was delivered on December 8, 1953, three years of painful negotiations with the Soviets lead to the creation of the IAEA, the stronghold of the non-proliferation effort.