The Bulletin of
the Atomic Scientists has told the world what time it is
since 1947, when its famous clock appeared on the cover. Since
then, the clock has moved forward and back, reflecting the state
of international security.
1947 | Seven
minutes to midnight
The clock first appears on the Bulletin
cover as a symbol of nuclear danger.
1949 | Three
minutes to midnight
The Soviet Union explodes its first atomic
bomb.
1953 | Two
minutes to midnight
The United States and the Soviet Union test
thermonuclear devices within nine months of one another.
1960 | Seven
minutes to midnight
The clock moves in response to the growing
public understanding that nuclear weapons made war between the
major powers irrational. International
scientific cooperation and efforts to aid poor nations are
cited.
1963 | Twelve
minutes to midnight
The U.S. and Soviet signing of the Partial
Test Ban Treaty “provides the first tangible confirmation of
what has been the Bulletin’s conviction in recent
years—that a new cohesive force has entered the interplay of
forces shaping the fate of mankind.”
1968 | Seven
minutes to midnight
France and China acquire nuclear weapons;
wars rage in the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, and
Vietnam; world military spending increases while development
funds shrink.
1969 | Ten
minutes to midnight
The U.S. Senate ratifies the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty.
1972 | Twelve
minutes to midnight
The United States and the Soviet Union sign
the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) and the
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty; progress toward SALT II is
anticipated.
1974 | Nine
minutes to midnight
SALT talks reach an impasse; India develops a
nuclear weapon. “We find policy-makers on both sides
increasingly ensnared, frustrated, and neutralized by domestic
forces having a vested interest in the amassing of strategic
forces.”
1980 | Seven
minutes to midnight
The deadlock in U.S.-Soviet arms talks
continues; nationalistic wars and terrorist actions increase;
the gulf between rich and poor nations grows wider.
1981 | Four
minutes to midnight
Both superpowers develop more weapons for
fighting a nuclear war. Terrorist actions, repression of human
rights, and conflicts in Afghanistan, Poland, and South Africa
add to world tension.
1984 | Three
minutes to midnight
The arms race accelerates. “Arms control
negotiations have been reduced to a species of propaganda. . . .
The blunt simplicities of force threaten to displace any other
form of discourse between the superpowers.”
1988 | Six
minutes to midnight
The United States and the Soviet Union sign a
treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF);
superpower relations improve; more nations actively oppose
nuclear weapons.
1990 | Ten
minutes to midnight
The clock, redesigned in 1989, reflects
democratic movements in Eastern Europe, which shatter the myth
of monolithic communism; the Cold War ends.
1991 | Seventeen
minutes to midnight
The United States and the Soviet Union sign
the long-stalled Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and
announce further unilateral cuts in tactical and strategic
nuclear weapons.
1995 | Fourteen
minutes to midnight
Further arms reductions are stalled while
global military spending continues at Cold War levels. Nuclear
“leakage” from poorly guarded former Soviet facilities is
recognized as a growing risk.
1998 | Nine
minutes to midnight
India and Pakistan “go public” with nuclear
tests. The United States and Russia can’t agree on further deep
reductions in their stockpiles.
2002 | Seven
minutes to midnight
Little progress is made on global nuclear
disarmament. The United States rejects a series of arms control
treaties and announces it will withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic
Missile Treaty. Terrorists seek to acquire and use nuclear and
biological weapons.