Norman Cousins: Peacemaker in the Atomic Age (Johns Hopkins Nuclear History and Contemporary Affairs)

As the editor of the Saturday Review for more than thirty years, Norman Cousins had a powerful platform from which to help shape American public debate during the height of the Cold War. Under Cousins's leadership, the magazine was considered one of the most influential in the literary world. Cousins's progressive, nonpartisan editorials in the Review earned him the respect of the public and US government officials. But his deep impact on postwar international humanitarian aid, anti-nuclear advocacy, and Cold War diplomacy has been largely unexplored. In this book, Allen Pietrobon presents the first true biography of Norman Cousins. Cousins was much more important than we realize: he was involved in several secret citizen diplomacy missions during the height of the Cold War and, acting as a private citizen, played a major role in getting the Limited Test Ban Treaty signed. He also wrote JFK's famous 1963 American University commencement speech ("not merely peace in our time but peace for all time"). This book is a fascinating look at the outsized impact that one individual had on the course of American public debate, international humanitarianism, and the Cold War itself. This biography of the vocal anti-communist and anti-nuclear activist's public life will interest readers across the ideological spectrum. Norman Cousins : educator for an atomic age -- The formation of a vision -- Cousins and World War Two -- An anti-nuclear crusade -- 1946 : a new year in the atomic age -- Witness to a catastrophe -- An educational field trip to Germany -- From editor's desk to world stage -- In search of peace, Cousins rallies for war -- Candidate of the intellectuals : Adlai Stevenson, 1952 -- From advocate to diplomat -- Eisenhower's new look -- A new project -- The Hiroshima maidens -- Cousins and the anti-nuclear agenda -- 1956 : the anti-nuclear election campaign -- SANE and the anti-testing campaign -- The Ravensbrück Lapins and the communist connection -- A cultural exchange of Cousins's own -- The dawn of the Kennedy administration -- Flashpoints : Berlin and Congo -- Norman Cousins, the Vatican, and the Cuban Missile Crisis -- The crisis abates but contacts continue -- The breakthrough to the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty -- A sojourn with Khrushchev -- The fight to ratify -- 1964 : the (near) death and rebirth of Norman Cousins -- Norman Cousins's crusade against the air -- Days of apprehension and confusion -- The "Humphrey mission" -- The scramble to prevent a bombing -- Campaigning against (and during) a war -- The Biafran War -- Saturday review's final crisis -- The third act of Norman Cousins "The author has written the first scholarly biography of Norman Cousins, who, as the editor and owner of the Saturday Review for more than thirty years, had a powerful platform from which to help shape American public debate. A staunch opponent of nuclear weapons, Cousins was involved in several secret diplomatic missions at the height of the Cold War, and acting as a private citizen, he played a major role in getting the Limited Test Ban Treaty signed"-- Provided by publisher