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Strategy and Doctrine

Massive Retaliation

Contemporary

Massive retaliation was the Eisenhower administration's nuclear strategy, approved as policy in NSC 162/2 in October 1953 and made public by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles's January 1954 speech, committing the United States to answer serious Soviet or communist aggression, even conventional aggression, with retaliation in far greater force, chiefly nuclear, at a place and by means of its own choosing. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Core Claim
Any serious Soviet aggression, even a conventional one, will be met with overwhelming nuclear retaliation at a place and by means of the United States' own choosing. 1
Origin Year
1954 1
1954 marks Secretary of State John Foster Dulles's public speech announcing the strategy; the underlying policy had been approved internally as NSC 162/2 in October 1953.
Connections

Associated With

Flexible Response, Strategy and Doctrine
Source Wikipedia: Flexible Response

Developed By

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Commanders
Source Wikipedia: Massive Retaliation
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Massive Retaliation
Wikipedia
  • lead paragraph
    Massive retaliation is a military doctrine and nuclear strategy that commits a state to retaliate to an attack in much greater force, especially with the use of nuclear weapons.
  • January 12, 1954 Dulles speech, quoted in history section
    Local defenses must be reinforced by the further deterrent of massive retaliatory power.
  • Developed By: Dwight D. Eisenhower, opening paragraph, NSC 162/2
    The concept of massive retaliation became US policy with the approval of NSC 162/2 in October 1953 by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Flexible Response
WikipediaAssociated With: Flexible Response, lead paragraph
Quote, Associated With: Flexible Response, lead paragraph
to address the Kennedy administration's skepticism of Dwight Eisenhower's New Look and its policy of massive retaliation
View the Source

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