Since the initial creation of nuclear deterrence, two U.S. Presidents have offered grand proposals to bring salvation and save humanity from the threat of its own creation, nuclear warfare. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), the first of such proposals, a constellation of space- and ground-based systems that was ‘envisioned by President Ronald Reagan’ would render nuclear weapons ‘impotent and obsolete’. In March 1983, President Reagan gave a speech announcing the program, suggesting that research conducted under SDI “could pave the way for arms control measures to eliminate the weapons themselves”. He believed that, if SDI could make the nation physically invulnerable to ballistic missiles, and if the United States shared this technology with other countries, including the Soviet Union, the groundwork would be laid for a stable, nuclear-free world. Earlier concepts had offered only to control the threat, this presidential initiatives aspired to escape from the cage of …show more content…
In support of eventual nuclear disarmament, Obama identified specific initial steps; reducing the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. national security strategy; negotiating a new strategic arms reduction treaty with Russia; pursuing ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT); and seeking a treaty to cut off production of fissile material for nuclear weapons. Additionally, he proposed seeking further cuts in nuclear arms, in a process that would involve, all nuclear weapon states. While Obama’s road map did not extend beyond these steps, the ultimate goal of eliminating nuclear weapons is identical to President Reagan’s SDI