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> From: Robert Whealey <whealey@ohio.edu> > > I am glad to learn that the term WMD was first used by the _Times_ of > London in December 1937. > > This idea stemmed out of the Bombing of Guernica by the Luftwaffe in > April 1937. That was followed by the systematic bombing of Hankow by > Japan. There were ample documents on the subject. But I never saw the > term, in the FO,of WMD. Before this net, I thought WMD was invented > by Cold Warriors. Apparently, the term became popular in the US after World War II. When I search the New York Times online database for use of this phrase before 1945, I get zero hits. Searching for use of the phrase before 1950 gives 106 hits. When I search the JSTOR database very broadly, I find first use of the phrase is in an editorial on control of the atomic bomb in the American Journal of International Law dated 1946. JSTOR is a scholarly journal database When I searach the Times of London database for this phrase, which claims coverage from 1915 to 1971, the first instance of use is 1954. I cannot explain why the database does not find the 1937 use. Peter Brush
 Humanities & Social Sciences Online 
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