India and Pakistan "go public" with nuclear tests. The United States and Russia cannot agree on further deep reductions in their nuclear stockpiles.

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Further arms reductions stall while global military spending continues at Cold War levels. Risks of nuclear "leakage" from poorly guarded former Soviet facilities increase.

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The United States and the Soviet Union sign the long-stalled Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and announce further unilateral cuts in tactical and strategic nuclear weapons.

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The clock, redesigned in 1989, reflects democratic movements in Eastern Europe that shatter the myth of monolithic communism; the Cold War ends.

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The United States and the Soviet Union sign a treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear forces; superpower relations improve; more nations actively oppose nuclear weapons.

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The arms race accelerates. "Arms control negotiations have been reduced to a species of propaganda. . . . The blunt simplicities of force threaten to displace any other form of discourse between the superpowers."

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Both superpowers develop more weapons for fighting a nuclear war. Terrorist actions, repression of human rights, and conflicts in Afghanistan, Poland, and South Africa add to world tension.

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The deadlock in U.S.-Soviet arms talks continues; nationalistic wars and terrorist actions increase; the gulf between rich and poor nations grows wider.

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SALT talks reach an impasse; India develops a nuclear weapon. "We find policymakers on both sides increasingly ensnared, frustrated, and neutralized by domestic forces having a vested interest in the amassing of strategic forces."

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Jun 1972

The United States and the Soviet Union sign the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty; progress toward SALT II is anticipated.

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Apr 1969

The U.S. Senate ratifies the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

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Jan 1968

France and China acquire nuclear weapons; wars rage in the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, and Vietnam; world military spending increases while development funds shrink.

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Oct 1963

The U.S. and Soviet signing of the Partial Test Ban Treaty "provides the first tangible confirmation of what has been the Bulletin's conviction in recent years--that a new cohesive force has entered the interplay of forces shaping the fate of mankind."

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Jan 1960

The clock moves in response to the growing public understanding that nuclear weapons made war between the major powers irrational. International scientific cooperation and efforts to aid poor nations are cited.

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Sep 1953

The United States and the Soviet Union test thermonuclear devices within nine months of one another.

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Oct 1949

The Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb.

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Jun 1947

The clock first appears on the Bulletin cover as a symbol of nuclear danger.

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