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Scorpion King

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Focused more on containing the Soviet Union than defeating Japan, Byrnes rejected McCloy’s proposals about how best to proceed concerning the atomic bomb. — location: 227 ^ref-18281

Germany had surrendered, and Japan was on the verge of a similar capitulation. America’s looming problem was Russia (a term for the Soviet Union frequently used in the vernacular of the times), and Byrnes wanted the atomic bomb up his sleeve when advising the president on that matter. — location: 228 ^ref-29817

The Soviet Union not only insisted upon retaining its United Nations veto but also argued that the abolition of atomic weapons should precede the establishment of any international authority; failure to do so, they thought, would leave the United States with a clear atomic bomb monopoly. — location: 435 ^ref-46074

the United States wanted a mechanism of international control in place before it was willing to disarm; the Russians required that the United States disarm before it would submit to any system of international controls. — location: 440 ^ref-26969