August 19, 1949: The first Soviet atomic bomb test. Faced with the loss of the nuclear monopoly, and seeking to maintain the American technological advantage, President Truman orders a massive rearmament program which includes greatly increased investment in the nascent field of parascientific weapons research. The Foundation, determined to remain free of US and Soviet control, relocates their most sensitive and powerful objects to the non-aligned nations of Egypt, Yugoslavia, and Indonesia. Much of the parascientific material left behind falls into government hands. -Dean Acheson, 1950