News & Events

Introduction
I want to tell you a story about two U.S. presidents, separated in time, but joined by a common purpose.

In 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower spoke to the United Nations General Assembly about a new vision he called “Atoms for Peace.”

The General Assembly was silent for the entire speech. Then, Eisenhower drew cheers with this celebrated last line: “The miraculous inventiveness of man shall not be dedicated to his death, but consecrated to his life.” He was referring, of course, to moving away from the use of nuclear energy technology for weapons and to peaceful purposes.

3,500 delegates celebrated, and a wave of optimism about nuclear energy swept the assembly.

Today, we have an American president who shares President Eisenhower’s vision. Like Eisenhower, President George W. Bush has demonstrated bold leadership and vision in articulating the promise—indeed, the imperative—of nuclear energy.

In several speeches this year, in major policy forums such as the G8 discussions in Gleneagles, Scotland, earlier this summer, in taking time from his schedule to visit a U.S. nuclear plant, President Bush has signaled his conviction that the rebirth of nuclear energy in the United States and worldwide is imperative.