FRENCH CHESTNUTS IN THE FIRE
Under certain contingencies, time would not permit consultation [on use of nuclear weapons] without itself endangering the very security we seek to protect. So far as feasible, we must seek understanding in advance on measures to be taken under various circumstances. In these ways, our joint capacities will be best calculated to deter aggression against any of us and to protect us in case it should occur." -- John Foster Dulles, April 23, 19541
Anglo-French misgivings notwithstanding, Eisenhower and Dulles were anxious to advance Allied and world understanding, and hopefully approval, of proposed American reliance on nuclear weapons to facilitate cuts in the defense budget, and in particular reduction of American ground forces in Korea. Thus the Secretary of State gave a speech in New York to the Council on Foreign Relations on January 12, 1954 announcing the Massive Retaliation policy. "The basic decision," he explained, "was to depend primarily upon a great capacity to retaliate, instantly, by means and at places of our choosing." Just as Churchill had predicted, Dulles' public pronouncement caused a furor and heightened fear of war.2
At this juncture, SAC really did have the capability of retaliating massively, as LeMay indicated in a top secret briefing for military officers and intelligence officials in Washington on January 28. He now had under his command 825 bombers, including 187 B-36s and 351 B-47s, 90% equipped for atomic warfare. In an emergency they would operate out of bases in the U.K., French Morocco, the Mediterranean area, the Pacific area, and the northwest U.S. including Thule, Alaska. Their mission would be to saturate the defenses of the Soviet Union from all directions so that all 600 Russian airfields would be attacked and destroyed as well as urban-industrial, command and control, atomic energy, and other military targets. Although coordination with the Navy's now substantial atomic force in the Atlantic was lacking and LeMay was still dissatisfied that he did not have all the aircraft and resources he wanted to carry
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