Source for this quote on nuclear deterrents and the value of the arts?

April 17, 2018 7:34 PM

I have a half-remembered anecdote that I read somewhere that goes something like this: At a congressional hearing on nuclear deterrence, someone says this to a prominent nuclear weapons scientist: "We all see the value of nuclear weapons for protecting our country. But why should we be supporting the arts?" The scientist responds: "They make our country worth protecting." The details are probably all wrong, but I'm fairly certain that it involved Americans in some kind of government hearing. Can anyone help me find a source for this half-memory?
posted by mariokrat to Society & Culture (4 answers total)

It’s usually attributed to Churchill, but isn’t a real quote: Snopes
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:39 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Perhaps it is at least based on this?
posted by Zalzidrax at 9:35 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: In 1969, Robert R. Wilson, the first director of Fermilab, testified before a Congressional committee on funding for the construction of the lab's first particle accelerator. Asked by a senator whether there was anything about the accelerator that involved the security of the country, after some back and forth he said, "It has to do with: Are we good painters, good sculptors, great poets? I mean all the things that we really venerate and honor in our country and are patriotic about. In that sense, this new knowledge has all to do with honor and country but it has nothing to do directly with defending our country except to help make it worth defending." You can read the complete transcript on the Fermilab site.
posted by drdanger at 2:50 AM on April 18, 2018 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks! The Boingboing story is what I must have been thinking about. The extension to the arts was probably my own faulty memory and/or hope.
posted by mariokrat at 7:11 PM on May 29, 2018