Essay Sample about Nuclear Weapons and The Cold War

Years following the second world war, new nuclear advancements shadowed the surface, becoming highly prevalent in the late 1940s.  During this period, many Americans believed the only way to end the Cold War was through atomic warfare. In Matthew Connolly’s “General, I have Fought just as Many Cold Wars as You Have” post-World War II war preparations began for the USSR and USA. American officials began making predictions based on Soviet potential and intentions.   By planning war games and gathering forecasts, the only tenable scenario to ending the Cold War seemed to include a mushroom cloud. 

In the 1940s President Roosevelt created intelligence organizations, which allowed for committees to predict Soviet intentions and developments. One organization in particular was the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC). The JIC was a committee created in the US with the aim of finding evidence relating to USSR nuclear development.  Other committees such as The Manhattan Project also had the task of forecasting Soviet intentions, however, information given to officials varied from committee to committee.  When it came to nuclear bomb progress, the Manhattan project was predicting over a decade for a bomb to be developed, using secret evidence about the UK and US seizing uranium.  On the other hand, the JIC was only predicting five years before the Soviets were prepared with nuclear bombs.  This misleading information conveys how intelligence organizations such as these two were receiving and using different sources to gather their evidence. These predictions left Americans in a disarray, fearful of a possible Soviet surprise attack.  On top of that, these differing predictions made many officials, like the secretary of the Navy, lean towards initiating nuclear war.  When Eisenhower became president, he had the difficult task of deciding whether America should initiate war. With forecasts predicting Soviet economy growth, Eisenhower was fearful that the Soviets would build many more atomic bombs.  Eisenhower assembled the Solarium Project, where three teams forecasting future plans for America.  One team was urging for atomic warfare of China, in the long-term predicting USSR withdrawal and defeat.  These strategies and plans made by American officials conveyed the fear and want for American initiation of nuclear weapons. Eisenhower rejected these ideas, however, choosing not to initiate war, but rather defend the US. He created “Atoms of Peace”, to promote technological advancements and stop officials from promoting war, although, many were cynical of Eisenhower’s choices.  The Office of National Estimates (ONE) and Air Forces were raising concerns about predictions made.  Air Forces believed the Soviets had better missile capabilities and could have “up to a thousand intercontinental ballistic missiles by 1961”.  Although these estimates turned out to be false, at the time, they alarmed Americans. Many began favouring the thought of America initiating nuclear war as a preventative measure of a surprise attack. To prepare the military for war, officials and officers created war games. 

War games are scenarios designed to help military create strategies for possible future conflicts. In the 1950s, officials planned out war games set in the future, testing out potential nuclear wars. These intricate scenarios only revealed that the US was in danger, with US bombers being wiped out with ICBMs.  Furthermore, these scenarios were supporting nuclear weapon use. Numerous errors occurred where tapes of the scenarios being acted out were taken as real-life warnings, causing near strikes.  This showed how ready military and officials were to launch nuclear weapons within seconds of warnings. Apart from false alarms, in the 1960s, Kennedy administration took a different approach to war games. They created politico-military games, with the idea originating from Herbert Gold hammer, a RAND sociologist.  These futuristic role-playing scenarios allowed for teams to interact with each other. A politico-military game in particular was one presented to President Kennedy from his advisors.  During this scenario, a surprise attack on the Soviet Union was introduced, with the advisors predicting Soviet president Khrushchev’s surrender.  Even if he chose not to surrender, the deaths of US civilians would only be nine million or less, with Khrushchev losing the war.  These imagined scenarios made by officials only showed their obsession and want for nuclear war. By provoking a nuclear war, they made it clear fatalities in the US would be low. Their forecasts encouraged ending war with nuclear weapons, making it seem like the only option that would end successfully. Each scenario was different from the last, but most indicated a need for nuclear war to end the Cold War, proving how war games set America up for a forecasted nuclear future.

Overall, the use of war games and predictions from officials led America to believe that nuclear war was the only way to conclude the Cold War. The contradicting evidence stated by US officials intimidated Americans, making them support nuclear initiation. Americans were on edge, fearing false alarms, and surprise attacks from the USSR.  On top of that, the use of nuclear initiation within war game scenarios only further supported the use of nuclear weapons to end the Cold War.  The lower fatalities and Soviet surrender seemed better than waiting for the inevitable. These war games and forecasts all heavily impacted reasons why Americans believed a mushroom cloud was the only way to end the Cold War. Initiate the war, set fire to glory, and begin the nuclear apocalypse.