The President and the Bomb: The Making of American Nuclear Policy, 1939 -1974, at once an original and compelling reconsideration of the role of human agency in international affairs, fills an important gap in the relationship between nuclear weapons policy and presidential decision-making, particularly when examined beyond the context of individual chief executives. On this score alone, Siracusa and Spiller’s study makes a significant contribution to the existing literature. The outcome is a tour de force of high-level historical analysis translated into a comprehensive survey of changing presidential nuclear thinking over the first four critical decades of the bomb.

Joseph M. Siracusa is former Professor and Inaugural Dean of Global Futures, Curtin University, and President Emeritus of Australia’s Council for Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Professor Siracusa is the author of numerous books on the history of nuclear weapons and nuclear non-proliferation, including, US Presidents and Cold War Nuclear Diplomacy (2021); Nuclear Weapons: A Very Short Introduction (3^rd ed., 2020); and A Global History of the Nuclear Arms Race (2011).

Emily C. Spiller is a policy practitioner at the Australian Department of Defence. A Fulbright Scholar, she has conducted research in Washington, D.C., at the Federation of American Scientists and Georgetown University, specializing in nuclear history, strategy, and arms control. She holds a PhD from RMIT University.