Reprinted with permission of the Albuquerque Journal
Saturday, February 14, 2004
Engineer Cresson Kearny Decried Nuclear War

By Paul Logan
Journal Staff Writer
Cresson Kearny wrote the book on how to exist after an atomic bomb attack: "Nuclear War Survivor Skills."
Kearny worked for the Oak Ridge (Tenn.) National Laboratory but left in 1979 to write and speak out on nuclear war, said a daughter, Stephanie Kearny of Albuquerque.
"He was a maverick, basically, who went far for someone who didn't work well within the system," she said. "He saw this need and tried to be the one to do something about it."
Kearny, who spent much of the 1950s in New Mexico prospecting for oil and gas, died Dec. 18 of complications from a stroke in Montrose, Colo. He was 89.
Kearny was a complex person with a great appreciation for life, his daughter said.
"He lived for the moment— most people don't," she said.
Whether it was big things, such as nuclear war, or small ones, such as an anthill or a sunset, "he was very present," she said.
Born in San Antonio, Texas, Cresson Henry Kearny landed a scholarship to Princeton University, earning a civil engineering degree. As a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University, he graduated with two degrees in geology.
During World War II, Kearny helped develop jungle training. He also served in the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency.
From 1964 to 1979, he did civil defense work for the Oak Ridge Laboratory.
"He really was looking at the big picture, and he wanted to do something about it," she said.
He disagreed with the United States' strategic policy developed during the Cold War called Mutual Assured Destruction, or MAD, she said.
He finished a lab publication and soon after published his own nuclear survival how-to book in 1979, she said.
In writing about the MAD concept, Kearny said that if both the United States and the Soviet Union do not or cannot adequately protect their people and essential industries, neither will attack the other. But, he said, no other nation besides the United States adopted such a strategy.
"The average American has far too little information that would help him and his family and our country survive a nuclear attack," Kearny wrote in his book's introduction.
The book includes instructions on building a fallout shelter and a radiation meter.
Although the book sold more than 600,000 copies by the 1990s, Kearny did not take any royalties. His copyright also ensures that anyone can publish the book. It can be read on the Internet, she said.
Kearny received fan mail from all over the world. His daughter said people sometimes thought of him as a "savior" because he cared.
"He never cared about money," his daughter said. "He felt he wanted to make a big contribution ... to find practical solutions to problems."
Kearny also hoped the suggestions in his book would never be needed, she said.
His nuclear-related papers will be donated to the National Atomic Museum in Albuquerque, Stephanie Kearny said.
He authored another book called "Jungle Snafus and Remedies," which was used by some special forces units, his daughter said.
"He had a genuine concern about people's welfare and that soldiers were properly being taken care of," she said.
His wife of 60 years, May, lives in Montrose.
Survivors include three other daughters, Adelia Kearny, Diana Fosse and Susanna Kearny, all of Albuquerque, and a son, Cresson, of Oakland, Calif