Bomb Power

Gary Wills's 2010 examination of the imperial U.S. presidency and ballooning national security state could not be more timely. He traces the growth of secrecy and the state of constant war-in-peacetime to the atom bomb, which was developed in secret and exploded on presidential command. The need to secure bases, and nations, from which to launch these new weapons, combined with the Soviet threat, led to the growth of a military and espionage apparatus largely outside the control of Congress and therefore in violation of the Constitution. Only a slumbrous, ignorant public could have acquiesced for so long to the idea that "the president knows best."