One of the implications of the Harmon report, that 133 atomic bombs were not enough to break the Soviet Union, may have fed into the pressure for the hydrogen-bomb or “super” that accelerated after the Soviets tested an atomic device in August 1949.
Cartoon shows Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev looking in dismay at a massive stone hammer and sickle, now shattered into many parts. One of a new breed of Soviet leaders who ascended to power in 1980s, Gorbachev implemented political and cultural…