Interview with Dr Sidney D. Drell (1926-2017) at the Hoover Institution on August 6, 2013

These audiofiles are parts of an interview with Dr Sidney D. Drell (1926-2017) in his office at the Hoover Institution on August 6, 2013. Benoit Pelopidas interviewed him because he was an original member of JASON, a group advising the US presidents on nuclear weapons issues, starting in the 1960s and worked on arms control his whole life. In the 2000s he was crucial in setting the group of the ‘four horsemen’, advocating further nuclear arms reductions with a view to preventing nuclear terrorism. Dr Drell embodied a particular understanding of the role of scientists and their connections to politics and State authorities. In 2013, he received the national medal of science from US President Barack Obama. A narrative biography of Sidney Drell can be found in Philip Taubman’s book The Partnership. New York, Harper and Collins, 2012. A more analytical engagement with the ethics of science in Cold War America can be found in Paul Rubinson, Redefining Science. Scientists, the National Security State and Nuclear Weapons in Cold War America, University of Massachussetts Press, 2016.

Other parts of the interview will be published soon. I am grateful to the Drell family for allowing me to make this material available.