>But, it really was something we were terrified of, all through the 70's and 80's Not me, in the 80s, and I never heard any one talk about it. I mean, I read t

>But, it really was something we were terrified of, all through the 70's and 80's Not me, in the 80s, and I never heard any one talk about it. I mean, I read tons of books, and so the narrative you describe I'm very familiar with. But I never heard anyone in "real life" talk like that, not once. I'm not sure what you mean by "we are still in that position today" - surely we are not, because if a nuclear weapon goes off there is no reason to launch them all. And it's been proven so many times that nuclear powers do not respond to non-nuclear threats with nukes that it's taken for granted now.