Atomic Diplomacy

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part of an integrated system of containment and deterrence. Truman told Kennen in early 1947 that, "Our weapons of mass destruction are not fail-safe devices, but instead the fundamental bedrock of American security".
They were never intended as first strike weapons and had no real tactical value. The bomb is purely strategic, and its value comes not from its destructive capabilities, but from its political and psychological ramifications. Kennen was never naive enough to view the bomb as an offensive weapon. In his long memorandum "The International Control of Atomic Energy," Kennen noted that, "There could be no way in which weapons of mass destruction could be made to serve rational ends beyond simply deterring the outbreak of hostilities".
Even at this early point, Kennen began to also recognize the potential of the bomb to completely wreck balance of power arrangements. Simply achieving higher potentials of destruction would not necessarily lead to a better negotiating ...

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do the same. The problems of the Eisenhower years stemmed directly from the overconfidence in the U.S. nuclear program to achieve tangible military objectives in the face of increased hostilities. John Foster Dulles, the symbol of bipartisan cooperation on foreign policy, began to advocate the nuclear response. The impotence of our standing army compared to the Soviet's military behemoth was clear to all U.S. policy advisors.
There was no way in which we could match Russia gun for gun, tank for tank, at anytime, in any place. John's brother Allen Dulles, CIA director under Eisenhower, said, "To do so would mean real strength nowhere and bankruptcy everywhere". Instead, the U.S. ...

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