Share

cover art for Harold Macmillan, Part 4: Pressing the Button

Atomic Hobo - Nuclear War Podcast

Harold Macmillan, Part 4: Pressing the Button

How would Harold Macmillan have ordered nuclear retaliation?


Join us at www.patreon.com/atomichobo for ad-free listening and bonus episodes.


The books and articles I used in this episode are listed below:


The Secret State by Peter Hennessy

Winds of Change by Peter Hennessy

The Prime Minister: The Office and its Holders Since 1945 by Peter Hennessy

Cabinet by Peter Hennessy

Supermac: The Life of Harold Macmillan by D.R. Thorpe

Planning Armageddon: Britain, the United States and the Command of Western Nuclear Forces, 1945-1964, by Len Scott, Robert Twigge et al.

'A Matter of Joint Decision': The Origins of British Nuclear Retaliation Procedures and the Murphy-Dean Agreement of 1958, by Matthew Jones in the English Historical Review


More episodes

View all episodes

  • Harold Macmillan, Part 3

    35:34|
    Thor is here! In 1958, the American Thor missiles arrive in the east of England, creating a headache for the authorities, and pain for those who protested their arrival and found themselves thrown into wet concrete, pelted with rotten fruit, and dragged around by the hair. Remember you can get ad-free access and bonus episodes by joining my Patreon for just £3 a month here: www.patreon.com/atomichobo Thank you! Julie
  • Harold Macmillan, Part 2

    29:57|
    Supermac becomes Prime Minister in January 1957, a bumper year for nuclear matters! To get ad-free listening and extra episodes join us at www.patreon.com/atomichobo
  • Harold Macmillan, Part 1

    34:06|
    A new series on former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, a man born in the Victorian era who led Britain into her thermonuclear age and through the Cuban Missile Crisis.This episode starts with his horrible experiences in the trenches and takes us up to his 1954 appointment as Defence Secretary, but we take in Greek tragedy, adultery, plane crashes and a bit of Ronnie Kray on the way.To get AD-FREE ACCESS please consider becoming a patron of the pod where you will get your own feed delivering all episodes to you, ad-free, plus bonus episodes.The books I quote from today are:Supermac: The Life of Harold Macmillan, by D.R. ThorpeChurchill and the Bomb, by Kevin Ruane The Macmillan Diaries: The Cabinet Years, by Harold Macmillan
  • When The Wind Blows, Part 16

    33:11|
    To get ad-free listening, plus bonus episodes, visit www.patreon.com/atomichoboThis week, Jim retreats into daydreams, and Hilda dishes out hard truths at the kitchen sink. Which one is best equipped to face the coming horror: the dreamer or the realist? PS I left one of my puppy's snores in the recording as it was cute. I used to sometimes do this with Bomba's snores, so here is one of Gadget's.
  • When The Wind Blows, Part 15

    30:44|
    To get ad-free access, plus bonus episodes, please visit www.patreon.com/atomichobo
  • POP! 99 Red Balloons

    32:35|
    The chart-topping 1983 hit about nuclear war - even though the band insisted it was no such thing!To get ad-free episodes, plus bonus episodes, please visit www.patreon.com/atomichobo
  • When The Wind Blows, Part 14

    31:08|
    Lions and tigers and bears? Oh my! We see that everything becomes a threat after nuclear war. And what is that strange scent hanging in the air?Also, a new BONUS EPISODE has been released for patrons, this one about Ronald Reagan and the biblical prophecy of Armageddon. Did Reagan believe it? Did he think the end of the world, in the form of nuclear war, was inevitable? Join us for £3 a month and get all bonus episodes here www.patreon.com/atomichobo
  • France - Part Trois

    32:00|
    The final part of our look at Savoir Pour Vivre, the French civil defence booklet.