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I wonder how much of this was a scare tactic. In theory the USSR would be more apprehensive if they believed the man in control of the US weapons was a bit craz

by wnevets 11y ago

I wonder how much of this was a scare tactic. In theory the USSR would be more apprehensive if they believed the man in control of the US weapons was a bit crazy.

arethuza 11y ago
That was Nixon's "Madman Theory": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madman_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madman_theory
- VonGuard 11y ago
  Precisely. Comes from games theory: if the other guy is thought to be irrational, it really backs you into a bit of a corner, playing it as safe as possible. Nixon had bombers flying to the edge of Soviet airspace, 24/7, all fully loaded, all to make the Russians think he was insanely aggressive.
  - iSnow 11y ago
    The obvious problem here is of course the other side might fully believe you are so unhinged that an attack is only a matter of time (not "if" but "when") and launch a pre-emptive attack at you. With the Soviet memory of Hitler's shenanigans, the madman tactic was incredibly destabilizing.
  - varjag 11y ago
    Not that it makes it a iota better, but both parties ran bomber patrols back in the day.
Spooky23 11y ago
There's probably a touch of that. But the adult supervision (LeMay) was pretty touched himself. People were numbers, and they were more than willing, eager even to kill millions.
- rtkwe 11y ago
  In the context of preparing for nuclear war you kind of had to be on some level cold and calculating about millions of deaths. Deterrence only really works if both sides know the other will retaliate, or at least remains unconvinced that the other wouldn't. The military had to plan for the worst and with nuclear war the /best/ outcome is millions dead and some swaths of land are unusable long times.
  - Spooky23 11y ago
    No doubt. But his attitudes reflected in more "conventional" settings as well. The firebombing of Japan, the Vietnam bombings, etc. He may have been the man we needed then, but he was a brutal sob.

by wnevets 11y ago

I wonder how much of this was a scare tactic. In theory the USSR would be more apprehensive if they believed the man in control of the US weapons was a bit crazy.

arethuza 11y ago

That was Nixon's "Madman Theory": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madman_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madman_theory

VonGuard 11y ago
Precisely. Comes from games theory: if the other guy is thought to be irrational, it really backs you into a bit of a corner, playing it as safe as possible. Nixon had bombers flying to the edge of Soviet airspace, 24/7, all fully loaded, all to make the Russians think he was insanely aggressive.
- iSnow 11y ago
  The obvious problem here is of course the other side might fully believe you are so unhinged that an attack is only a matter of time (not "if" but "when") and launch a pre-emptive attack at you. With the Soviet memory of Hitler's shenanigans, the madman tactic was incredibly destabilizing.
- varjag 11y ago
  Not that it makes it a iota better, but both parties ran bomber patrols back in the day.

Spooky23 11y ago

There's probably a touch of that. But the adult supervision (LeMay) was pretty touched himself. People were numbers, and they were more than willing, eager even to kill millions.

rtkwe 11y ago
In the context of preparing for nuclear war you kind of had to be on some level cold and calculating about millions of deaths. Deterrence only really works if both sides know the other will retaliate, or at least remains unconvinced that the other wouldn't. The military had to plan for the worst and with nuclear war the /best/ outcome is millions dead and some swaths of land are unusable long times.
- Spooky23 11y ago
  No doubt. But his attitudes reflected in more "conventional" settings as well. The firebombing of Japan, the Vietnam bombings, etc. He may have been the man we needed then, but he was a brutal sob.