1st Edition

Science, Technology and the Cultural Cold War in Asia From Atoms for Peace to Space Flight

By Yuka Moriguchi Tsuchiya Copyright 2022
    262 Pages 36 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    262 Pages 36 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Tsuchiya presents a new insight into the political roles of science and technology during the Cold War era in Asia.

    The Cold War was not only a battle of conflicting ideologies and economic systems, but also a competition of cultures and lifestyles, and a battle to win the hearts and minds of people in developing countries. Tsuchiya argues that science and technology were an integral part of how culture was deployed strategically. She discusses the 1950s and early 1960s: the Eisenhower and Kennedy presidencies in the U.S., and the decolonization and nation-building efforts in Japan, South Vietnam, Burma, and Indonesia. She also sheds light on the way U.S. technological aid programs such as Foreign Atoms for Peace, and the overseas information program were received by Asian leaders, technocrats, and scientists.

    Provides valuable insight for scholars of Cold War History in Asia and US Foreign Policy.

    Figures

    Acknowledgment

    Abbreviations

    1 Introduction

    PART I

    Cultural Cold War and Nuclear Energy

    2 The Cultural Cold War and Nuclear Scientists: Congress for Cultural Freedom and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

    3 “Foreign Atoms for Peace” and the Export of Research Reactors

    4 International Students of Atomic Energy: the Argonne International School of Nuclear Science and Engineering

    5 Contradictions in the Overseas Information Program: Nuclear Tests in the Pacific and Compensation Negotiation with Japan

    PART II

    New Development in the Overseas Information Programs

    6 From Atoms for Peace to Science for Peace

    7 Project Hope and Medical Aid Programs

    8 Space Flight as a New Overseas Information Program

    9 Epilogue

    References

    Index

    Biography

    Yuka Moriguchi Tsuchiya is Professor of History and American Studies in the Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies at Kyoto University, Japan.