Pressing the Button: 'Fat, dumb and happy'
From Atomic Hobo - Nuclear War Podcast by Julie McDowall
May 6, 2026 · 25 min
About this episode
The episode discusses Truman's presidential authority and Curtis LeMay's perspective on nuclear war.
More on Truman and sole presidential authority, and why did Curtis LeMay say he would refuse to be 'fat, dumb and happy' if America got nuked? As with last week's episode on Truman, I must acknowledge the brilliant new book by Alex Wellerstein called The Most Awful Responsibility. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
People in this episode
Host: Julie McDowall
Topics covered
- nuclear war
- presidential authority
- Curtis LeMay
- Truman
- historical analysis
Keywords
- nuclear war
- Truman
- Curtis LeMay
- presidential authority
- Alex Wellerstein
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: The Most Awful Responsibility
More episodes of Atomic Hobo - Nuclear War Podcast
- Pressing the Button: JFK and the PALs · May 27, 2026 · 19 min
- Pressing the Button: Eisenhower · May 12, 2026 · 26 min
- When The Wind Blows, Part 19 · May 2, 2026 · 31 min
- Pressing the Button: Truman · April 27, 2026 · 21 min
- When The Wind Blows, Part 18 · April 17, 2026 · 26 min
- Shadow Libraries · April 15, 2026 · 23 min
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