the dawn of the cold war + origins of american nuclear strategy

combined arms tactics

mechanized forces supported by infantry and air forces

theory of strategic bombardment

• establish air superiority over enemy homeland

• heavy bombing of enemy cities

• either destroy enemy war industry or cause citizenry to impel leadership to yield

but it’s great - air force

air force and others thought strategic bombing worked, work better with bigger bombs, why invest in army or navy?

nuclear restraint ideas

• truman reluctant to use again

• public and military strongly supported their use if a new war broke out

world government?

• scientists advocated radical changes to international politics and governance

• international and domestic support just wasn’t there

during the monopoly

• while only the us had nukes, used them to balance soviet union’s massive conventional superiority

• nukes not a complete substitute yet; bombers required nearby bases bc limited range + defend those bases + suppress soviet air defense

end of nuclear monopoly

soviets got bomb sept. 1949, but us had numerical superiority well into 1950s

january 31, 1950

truman announces us to develop the h-bomb

thermo-nuclear weapons (h-bomb)

a combination of nuclear fission and fusion to create an explosion thousands of times more powerful than an atomic bomb

nsc 68 (april 1950)

first US nuclear strategy; recommended a major expansion of U.S. military power in response to the perceived threat of Soviet expansionism

korean war

truman entered on june 1950 and approved huge military build-up

complications of nuclear duopoly

• us saw first-strike advantage with nukes

  • first strike destroys other’s ability to generate new war stuff

  • if surprised, other side left with standing forces

• surprise needs (morally unacceptable) unprovoked attack [soviet advantage]

the new look 1953

eisenhower national security policy

• US got better nuke arsenal

• eisenhower took advantage of this to save $$

  • worried US would become garrison state

massive retaliation

US could deter both big and small attacks by threatening nuclear response, using flexible, credible options without matching the Soviets.