The United States And National Security, And Dominant Party In Balance Of Power

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must remember under Kennen's containment is that nuclear
diplomacy is not separate from other national security measures as it is often
today. Nuclear weapons were 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" (Gaddis 56). 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" (Kennen 39). Even at this early point, Kennen began to
also recognize ...

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destructive and suicidal in their implications" (Kennen 365).
The late mistakes of the Truman administration would be carried over
into the Eisenhower years. Nuclear deployment became the primary American
security measure, naturally leading the Soviets to 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. ...

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