This debate is stated to have been lost by Bethe and he finally agreed to work as a consultant since he had failed to dissuade the building of a thermonuclear bomb and provided contributions to the effort focused toward design of the bomb. In contrast the physicist Teller had "been obsessed with the need to develop the hydrogen bomb ever since Enrico Fermi, suggested the possibility to him in 1941." (Arms Control Association, 2005) it is reported that Teller was "lionized by the right as the "father of the H-bomb and became the leading proponent of the need to stay ahead of the Soviets in the arms race and for the deployment of ballistic missile defenses." (Arms Control Association, 2005) Prior to these events Bethe and Teller, were very close friends and remained on the opposite sides of the debates for arms control through their entire lives. In 1945, an...
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