STANFORD— Warning that the world is “teetering on the edge of a new and more perilous nuclear era,” former ambassador and Hoover fellow James Goodby renewed the call for the elimination of nuclear weapons in his remarks at the launch of the book Reykjavik Revisited: Steps toward a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, Complete Report of October 2007 Hoover Institution/Nuclear Threat Initiative Conference (Hoover Press, 2008) on December 11. “The essence of the argument of this book is that linking immediate actions and a long-term vision will produce synergies that will encourage progress toward a world without nuclear weapons,” said Goodby. For more on his remarks at the launch, please go to his talking points.
Goodby was joined at the event by Sidney Drell, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and professor of theoretical physics emeritus at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University. In his presentation, Drell offered insights into the development of the book. On the twentieth anniversary of the 1986 meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and USSR General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, a conference was organized at the Hoover Institution by George P. Shultz, former secretary of state and Hoover distinguished fellow, and Drell to discuss one of the most significant topics of the historic meeting between the two men—the elimination of nuclear weapons, said Drell. “We came away from that meeting with the feeling that the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons was a realistic one and a vital one.”
The consensus reached at the 2006 conference led to another conference held the following year to discuss how the steps necessary to achieving a nuclear-free world. Reykjavik Revisited: Steps toward a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, edited by George P. Shultz, Steven P. Andreasen, Sidney D. Drell, and James E. Goodby, contains all the papers prepared for the “Reykjavik Revisited” conference held in October 2007. The book provides a foundation for how achieve a nuclear-free world, Drell said, including the practical steps to get to zero, how to manage the existing nuclear weapons and materials, and how the United States can build its diplomatic efforts.
For more information on the book, see From Hoover Press: Reykjavik Revisited: Steps toward a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, Complete Report of October 2007 Hoover Institution/ Nuclear Threat Initiative Conference.
The event will be televised on C-SPAN’s Book-TV (date to be announced).
