Given how thoroughly the physicists who wrote the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisch–Peierls_memorandum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisch–Peierls_memorandu

Given how thoroughly the physicists who wrote the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisch–Peierls_memorandum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisch–Peierls_memorandum anticipated the use of nuclear weapons as deterrence, I do not think the supposition that physicists were unable to identify the MAD potential is accurate.