And what makes you think that it wasn't? If you were in charge of the nuke launch process you would never give the power to one man, would you? You would have p

And what makes you think that it wasn't? If you were in charge of the nuke launch process you would never give the power to one man, would you? You would have probably done two things: 1. Require a broad consensus to launch (possibly with a dead-hand). 2. Don't tell anyone on the outside. Best keep the enemy guessing and the people in awe. Throughout the history people clamored for a strong leader, so you either give them one and suffer the risks of having a dictatorship, or you give them an illusion of a strong leader. The fictitious red button works perfectly - the man carries the literal Armageddon in his pocket, his power must be divine (subject to expiration on Jan 20th).