Deck Us All With Boston Charlie

The cartoon and title of the post, of course, are from the Pogo comic strip. The new bomb that the Parson yearns for is the hydrogen bomb. Walt Kelly drew this one in the early 1950s, before Ed Teller’s triumph. The conventions were still being developed, and the Parson speaks candidly of what is now referred to as deterrence.

I recently read Lawrence Freedman’s The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy. I recommend it. Nuclear strategy during the 1950s took some big swings because the idea of total destruction was new, and the balance between the contenders swung widely. By the 1960s, things had settled down after that nastiness in Cuba in 1962, arms control became obviously necessary in the 1970s, and the public rebelled (a little) in the 1980s. The collapse of the Soviet Union made some of us think that the competition was no more in the 1990s, but here we are.

What we have is an uneasy equilibrium with regard to the potential destruction of civilization. As long as a nation can maintain a way to wreak destruction on their attacker after an attack (second-strike capability), they are safe. Sorta. And now, as once or more before, some think that it makes sense to up the ability to use nuclear weapons for maybe little wars. It would just be a one-time thing, you see, and the other nation wouldn’t strike back.

That, they believe with the Parson, would bring peace.

The 1980s movie Wargames got it right: The only way to win is not to play. Now we have to figure out how to withdraw.

Merry Christmas!

Cross-posted to Nuclear Diner