The US nuclear strategy at time was called massive retaliation. 'massive retaliation' was strategy where the US committed itself to response in much greater nu

The US nuclear strategy at time was called massive retaliation. 'massive retaliation' was strategy where the US committed itself to response in much greater nuclear strike in the event of an attack, even conventional attack by Soviets. Kennedy abandoned that strategy during Cuban crisis when he saw that it didn't really work and was insane. It was simply not credible that US would commit losing 80-100 million people after single event. The US and NATO nuclear deterrence moved to what is now known as flexible response. The response to attack will be proportional.