July 18, 2023

MM#253--Broken Arrow 1--The Quebec Incident

FAN MAIL--We would love YOUR feedback--Send us a Text Message Did you know that a Boeing B-50 Superfortress once discarded an atomic bomb over the St. Lawrence River? Strap in for an enlightening discussion that questions the adequacy of our governing bodies, stresses the importance of transparency, and underscores the crucial role of oversight in society. In todays episode, we share a riveting tale of a 1950s broken arrow incident awaits you, as we uncover the details of this chilli...

Apple Podcasts podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player icon
Apple Podcasts podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player icon
U.S. History

FAN MAIL--We would love YOUR feedback--Send us a Text Message

Did you know that a Boeing B-50 Superfortress once discarded an atomic bomb over the St. Lawrence River?

Strap in for an enlightening discussion that questions the adequacy of our governing bodies, stresses the importance of transparency, and underscores the crucial role of oversight in society.

In todays episode, we share a  riveting tale of a 1950s broken arrow incident awaits you, as we uncover the details of this chilling event that was shrouded in secrecy by US and Canadian officials for over three decades.

Our guide for todays nugget of wisdom is Hampton Sides' superb account of the Korean War in On Desperate Ground: The Marines at the Reservoir, the Korean War's Greatest Battle

Key Points from the Episode:

  • We shine a spotlight on the shocking frequency of such incidents, with 32 recorded since the 1950s, raising critical questions about the safety and security of those who fall within the shadows of these decisions. 
  • We also cast a critical gaze on the state of Congressional oversight. 
  • Can we truly say there is any? With a robust defense that seems to border on opacity, we question the lack of transparency and the secrets that remained buried for over 30 years. 
  • Listen in as we probe into the happenings three decades later and whether lessons have been drawn from these harrowing events. 


Other resources:

Almanac of Broken Arrow events

More goodness
Get your FREE Academy Review here!

Want to leave a review? Click here, and if we earned a five-star review from you **high five and knuckle bumps**, we appreciate it greatly, thank you so much!

Because we care what you think about what we think and our website, please email David@teammojoacademy.com, or if you want to leave us a quick FREE, painless voicemail, we would appreciate that as well.

00:07 - The Dangers of Broken Arrow Incidents

06:33 - Weak Oversight, Lack of Transparency

WEBVTT

00:00:07.589 --> 00:00:20.806
Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life.

00:00:20.806 --> 00:00:24.847
Now here's your host, david Kaiser.

00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:31.030
Hello, I am David and welcome back to another Mojo Minute.

00:00:31.030 --> 00:00:36.508
In keeping with our new tradition, let's go to our first pull quote right away.

00:00:36.508 --> 00:00:46.625
The following day, november 10th, an even wadier event took place that would again disturb Truman's concentration.

00:00:46.625 --> 00:00:54.692
That night, a Boeing B-50 Superfortress took off from Goose Bay Air Base in Labrador, canada.

00:00:54.692 --> 00:01:03.167
Flying over the St Lawrence River, the heavy bomber ran into trouble, first one, then another of its four engines failed.

00:01:03.167 --> 00:01:16.962
Protocol required that the pilot immediately jettisoned its cargo, and so he did, Right over the river, not far from the city of Rivere Douloupe, quebec, 250 miles northeast of Montreal.

00:01:16.962 --> 00:01:27.188
The cargo in question happened to be a Mark IV atomic bomb, a revised version of the fat boy that had obliterated Nagasaki five years earlier.

00:01:27.188 --> 00:01:34.331
The crew set the squat 5.5 ton device to detonate at an altitude of 2,500 feet.

00:01:34.331 --> 00:01:52.430
Mercifully, the bomb was missing its plutonium core, so no nuclear reaction occurred, but the resulting explosion was massive nevertheless, and it rained more than 100 pounds of moderately radioactive uranium over a wide arc of the Quebec countryside.

00:01:52.430 --> 00:01:58.292
The shattering blast woke residents on both shores of the river for many miles.

00:01:58.292 --> 00:02:03.028
Soon afterward, the stricken bomber managed to land at Lorring Air Force Base in Maine.

00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:42.562
American and Canadian officials immediately moved to cover up the incident, telling reporters that what residents had heard was merely a 500 pound quote practice bomb conventional, not atomic that had been intentionally and safely detonated, not until the 1980s, when the United States Air Force acknowledged this was a case of a lost nuclear bomb there would be several during the Cold War An incident category known in military parlance as a broken arrow For President Truman.

00:02:42.562 --> 00:02:48.407
It was yet another distraction, another twist in a spectacularly nerve-wracking week.

00:02:48.407 --> 00:02:59.444
This incident was described in a quote that we just heard from the Book on Desperate Ground by Hampton Sides.

00:02:59.444 --> 00:03:16.905
Subtitle is the Marines at the Reservoir, the Korean War, the Korean War's greatest battle, and it's a fascinating book, all about the Korean War, which we have the 70th anniversary coming up in a couple of weeks.

00:03:16.905 --> 00:03:28.711
I was reading this book, but this incident is a frightening reminder of the dangers posed by nuclear arms and, especially during the Cold War, the nuclear arms race.

00:03:29.639 --> 00:03:31.545
Now let's think about the facts of this incident.

00:03:31.545 --> 00:03:47.025
On November 10, 1950, an American Boeing B-50 Superfortress carrying an atomic bomb, a Mark IV atomic bomb, was forced to dump its cargo over the St Lawrence River when two of its four engines failed.

00:03:47.025 --> 00:04:15.193
The bomb, missing its plutonium core, exploded on impact and rained uranium over a wide area of the country of Canada, in the state of Quebec, and in the immediate aftermath of the accident, us and Canadian officials attempted to cover up the incident, and actually did so successfully for 30 years, by claiming it was a practice bomb instead of an atomic bomb.

00:04:15.193 --> 00:04:17.786
Now, is that not just crazy?

00:04:17.786 --> 00:04:30.884
Now it was over 30 years later, in the 1980s, that the US government actually came clean, and more than that, the US and Canadian governments actually conspired to keep this information from the public.

00:04:30.884 --> 00:04:41.677
So in doing some basic searching on the web, you'll discover that we've had over 32 of these broken-arrow events since the 1950s.

00:04:41.677 --> 00:04:50.545
In order to conceal the truth about what happened, us and Canadian officials had to conspire together and isn't that just great.

00:04:50.545 --> 00:04:53.326
Now we have two countries conspiring together.

00:04:53.326 --> 00:05:00.560
Now this tragedy serves as evidence of how dangerous life could be during this period of history.

00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:10.509
But even more alarming is that, like I said before, there's been 32 similar events according to the research conducted on the web.

00:05:10.509 --> 00:05:17.641
Now I'll put a link in the show notes to this website atomicarchivecom almanac of broken arrows.

00:05:17.641 --> 00:05:27.459
Now this all begs the question how should state secrets be handled in a representative republic?

00:05:27.459 --> 00:05:37.043
Now, you would hope that handling the handling of state secrets will be done in a careful and responsible manner, with the utmost respect for the safety and security of those affected by such decisions.

00:05:38.839 --> 00:06:00.588
In our system of government, article 1 of the US Constitution puts the federal legislature, aka Congress, as the most closely tied to the people and is the correct check on the tyranny of the executive and judicial branches.

00:06:00.588 --> 00:06:09.213
So what happens when the American public loses trust in the federal legislature, aka Congress?

00:06:09.213 --> 00:06:12.348
Well, we're living through that now.

00:06:12.348 --> 00:06:25.644
So in today's mojo minute, for our country to flourish, it is essential that lessons are learned from such events as broken arrow events in order to mitigate similar incidences occurring in the future.

00:06:25.644 --> 00:06:30.932
And, more importantly, we need robust oversight from our congressional leaders.

00:06:30.932 --> 00:06:33.528
And boy, if that hasn't been done.

00:06:33.567 --> 00:06:43.552
In over 50 to 75 years, the oversight responsibility of Congress has become so weak that we could say there is no oversight at all.

00:06:43.552 --> 00:06:53.925
Yes, government officials come before congressional committees, but Congress itself has neutered itself.

00:06:53.925 --> 00:06:57.367
It is completely weak and ineffective.

00:06:57.367 --> 00:07:07.935
And yes, we as a country, we need a robust military defense, and I think an overwhelming majority of the American public believes that.

00:07:07.935 --> 00:07:14.949
But to conceal the information for over 30 years, so we don't have transparency.

00:07:14.949 --> 00:07:24.464
That seems a little rich, and for congressional authorities to barely sink their teeth into these events is an indictment of the times in which we live.

00:07:24.464 --> 00:07:35.250
Ultimately, when it comes to dealing with sensitive information, vast more transparency should always come first, especially with government oversight.

00:07:35.250 --> 00:07:56.877
And in our next mojo minute we will see what happened just 30 years later and if the United States Congress has learned anything from these broken arrow events, most especially if it has gotten any better with their robust oversight capability.

00:07:56.877 --> 00:07:58.745
We'll see you in our next mojo minute.

00:07:58.745 --> 00:08:06.124
And, by the way, ps, don't hold your breath on that robust congressional oversight.