JHU SAIS to Host Centennial Celebration of Paul H. Nitze Discussion to Focus on Future of Nuclear Weapons

The Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) will host a centennial commemoration of Paul H. Nitze, the school's co-founder, featuring discussions on the future of nuclear weapons on Monday, 01/29 at 9:30 a.m.

In commemoration of the centennial of Nitze's birth-01/16, 1907-SAIS is hosting a forum to address the challenges of nuclear weapons, the issue that consumed his energies more than any other in his long and distinguished career (see below for background information).

Max M. Kampelman, leader of the U.S. negotiating team with the Soviet Union on nuclear and space arms from 1985 to 1989, will give the keynote address about "Zero Nuclear Weapons."

The address will be followed by a panel discussion of "The Future of Nuclear Weapons" featuring:

• Thomas Graham Jr., special representative of the president for arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament from 1994 to 1997
• Avis Bohlen, assistant secretary of State for Arms Control from 1999 to 2002
• Christopher F. Chyba, professor of astrophysical sciences and international affairs at Princeton University
• Strobe Talbott (moderator), president of The Brookings Institution, deputy secretary of State from 1994 to 2001 and author of The Master of the Game: Paul Nitze and the Nuclear Peace

The event, free and open to the public, will be held in Kenney Auditorium located on the first floor of the school's Nitze Building, 1740 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. Members of the public should RSVP to saisevents@jhu.edu or 202.663.5636.

Members of the media who plan to cover the event should respond to Felisa Neuringer Klubes at the SAIS Public Affairs Office at 202.663.5626 or fklubes@jhu.edu.

BACKGROUND:

Paul H. Nitze was a member of the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey that in 1945 examined the effects on the ground of the U.S. nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. In 1949 he was a key figure in the controversial decision to build the first hydrogen bomb. From 1969 to 1972 he was among the principal negotiators of SALT I, the first strategic arms treaty with the Soviet Union, and of the Anti-Ballistic Missiles (ABM) Treaty. Outside of government, he was a powerful opponent of the SALT II Treaty.

Beginning in 1981, Nitze was chief U.S. negotiator with the Soviet Union on Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) and in 1982 took his famous "walk in the woods" with his Soviet counterpart in a daring but unsuccessful effort to break a negotiating deadlock. Together with Marshal Sergei Akhromeyev, he laid the foundation for far-reaching cutbacks in nuclear weapons during side talks at the 1986 Reykjavik summit meeting between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Reagan later presented Nitze with the Medal of Freedom, the highest government award that can be granted to a civilian. In retirement in 1999 at the age of 92, he urged that the United States unilaterally rid itself of nuclear weapons, declaring that remarkable advances in accuracy made it possible to achieve U.S. objectives with conventional weaponry.

In keeping with Nitze's own forward-looking spirit, the Centennial Commemoration at SAIS seeks to investigate this dangerous and pressing problem facing our global future.