The Day We Lost the H-Bomb: Cold War, Hot Nukes, and the Worst Nuclear Weapons Disaster in History

Bombs, p. 82; author's interview with Joe Ramirez, January 27, 2007.

52 thirty-eight guardias civiles: SAC Historical Study #109, pp. 18, 71.

52 Wilson had sent a message: Ibid., pp. 76, 81; Szulc, The Bombs of Palomares, p. 75; Lewis, One of Our H-Bombs, p. 82.

53 When Wilson's message arrived in Torrejon: SAC Historical Study #109, p. 81; author's interviews with Robert Finkel, April 4, 2007, and Phil Durbin, March 15, 2007.

53 Ramirez and a handful of others: Lewis, One of Our H- Bombs, p. 83; Joe Ramirez interview, January 27, 2007.

53 By 7:30 a.m.: SAC Historical Study #109, p. 75.

53 The small teams moved out: Szulc, The Bombs of Palomares, p. 82.

54 helicopters arrived from Moron: Ibid., pp. 82, 84; SAC Historical Study #109, p. 22.

54 Ramirez and others went to look: Szulc, The Bombs of Palomares, p. 84; Lewis, One of Our H-Bombs, pp. 85–86; author's interview with Joe Ramirez, January 27, 2007.

54 Bomb number two was in bad shape: The condition of bomb number two is from SAC

Historical Study #109, pp. 33–34; Cable, DASA to RUECW/CNO, January 21, 1966, #51711; and a photograph of the bomb obtained from NNSA through FOIA.

55 If he had looked up: Lewis, One of Our H-Bombs, p. 89.

55. Bomb number three lay in a plowed field: The story of the discovery of bomb number three is in Lewis, One of Our H-Bombs, pp. 88–89; Szulc, The Bombs of Palomares, pp. 50–51, 84–85;

“Special Report: Lost and Found, One H-Bomb,” CBS News, March 22, 1966.

56 “I knew it was a bomb”: “Special Report: Lost and Found, One H-Bomb.” 56 According to some accounts: “An H-Bomb Is Missing and the Hunt Goes On,” p. 57.

56 The bomb lay in its crater: The condition of bomb number three is from SAC Historical Study

#109, pp. 34–35; Cable, DASA to RUECW/CNO, January 21, 1966, #51711; and a photograph of the bomb obtained from NNSA through FOIA.

56 A situation report was sent: Memo, ATSD (AE) to Secretary of Defense et al. “Situation Report, B-52/KC-135 Accident, 17 January 1966,” January 18, 1966.

CHAPTER 4: THE AMBASSADOR

58 On the morning of the accident: Duke's actions on the morning of the accident come from author's interview with Joseph Smith, January 23, 2007, and Szulc, The Bombs of Palomares, pp. 60–63. See also Angier Biddle Duke, “Address to American Management Association,” January 17, 1966, and Angier Biddle Duke, “Remarks of Ambassador Angier Biddle Duke on ‘CBS Special Report,’” March 16, 1966 (both in Angier Biddle Duke Papers, Box 18, Duke).

59 If America had to choose: The background on Duke comes from author's interviews with Robin Duke, June 7, 2007; George Landau, January 22, 2007; and Joseph Smith, January 23, 2007. Print sources include Current Biography 23, no. 2 (February 1962), p. 7; Marguerite Higgins, “He Takes the Starch Out of Protocol,” The Saturday Evening Post, September 29, 1962, pp. 24–25; E. J. Kahn, “Good Manners and Common Sense,” The New Yorker, August 15, 1964, pp. 34 ff; “New Diplomatic Hand,” Newsweek, January 11, 1965, pp. 27–28. Also see Angier Biddle Duke, Living History interview, conducted by James David Barber, John TePaske, and Taylor Cole, October 24, 1990 (Duke Living History Program, Box 1, Duke). A Duke family genealogy can be found at http://library.duke.edu/uarchives/history/duke_familyndx.html.

62 “tobacco-rich playboy”: “New Diplomatic Hand,” Newsweek, January 11, 1965, p. 27.

62 “He has dedicated more sewers”: Quoted in Current Biography 23, no. 2 (February 1962), p. 8.

62 “I'm lost”: E. J. Kahn, “Good Manners and Common Sense,” The New Yorker, August 15, 1964, p. 35.

63 “When I got there”: Angier Biddle Duke, Living History interview, October 24, 1990, part II, p. 7.

63 There was only one reason: The background on the importance of the Spanish bases comes from author's interviews with George Landau, January 22, 2007, and Joseph Smith, January 23, 2007. Cable #1552 from the Embassy in Madrid, February 14, 1964 (LBJ), notes, “GOS attributes great importance to military relationship with US and would be most reluctant to liquidate present arrangements. However … It is psychologically very important to Spain that they stand up against us on some issue.”

63 The Air Force operated three bases: Information on the U.S. military presence in Spain comes from Harry R. Fletcher, Air Force Bases, vol. 2: Air Bases outside the United States of America (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Air Force, Center for Air Force History, 1993), pp. 187 ff; and Arthur P. Whitaker, Spain and the Defense of the West: Ally and Liability (New York: Harper &Brothers, 1961), pp. 56–64.

63 Zaragosa in northeastern Spain: Zaragosa was reduced to “modified caretaker status” on January 1, 1966, and reassigned to USAFE on April 15, 1966. It returned to active status on February 19, 1970, when Wheelus Air Base in Libya closed. Fletcher, Air Force Bases, p. 201.

64 Generalissimo Francisco Franco: The description of Franco comes from Michael Streeter, Franco (London: Haus Publishing, 2005), and Jean Grugel and Tim Rees, Franco's Spain (London: Arnold Publishers, 1997). For further reading on the Spanish Civil War, see Hugh Thomas's classic text The Spanish Civil War (New York: Harper &Row, 1961).

64 “the most uncharismatic dictator”: Angier Biddle Duke, Living History interview, October 24, 1990, part II, p. 10.

65 The Allies worked hard: Spain's relations with the West during World War II and in the postwar years is described in detail in Whitaker, Spain and the Defense of the West, chaps. 1 and 2. See also R. Richard Rubottom and J. Carter Murphy, Spain and the United States since World War II (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1984).

65 “Henceforth” said one historian: Whitaker, Spain and the Defense of the West, p. 11.

66 “more weight was given”: Ibid., p. 32.

66 In July 1947, he told a reporter: Paraphrased in ibid., pp. 35–36.

66 “I don't like Franco”: Quoted in Streeter, Franco, p. 106.

66 “The strategic advantages”: Quoted in Whitaker, Spain and the Defense of the West, p. 40.

67 American military officials: In Spain and the Defense of the West, p. 39, Whitaker argues that the push for Spanish bases came from the U.S. Navy. But Corey Ford and James Perkins, in “Our Key SAC Bases in Spain and How We Got Them,” Reader's Digest, August 1958, pp. 23–26, say the impetus came from SAC.

67 “a bitter pill”: Quoted in Whitaker, Spain and the Defense of the West, p. 50.

67 President Eisenhower visited Madrid: The description of Eisenhower's visit to Madrid comes from ibid., pp. 80–82. Also see The New York Times' coverage of the visit: