Strategy and Doctrine
Massive Retaliation
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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.
Facts
Core ClaimAny 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 Year1954 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. Cross-Tradition Connections
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Massive Retaliation
Wikipedialead paragraphQuote, 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.
1. Wikipedia: Massive Retaliation
WikipediaJanuary 12, 1954 Dulles speech, quoted in history sectionQuote, January 12, 1954 Dulles speech, quoted in history section
Local defenses must be reinforced by the further deterrent of massive retaliatory power.
Wikipedia: Flexible Response
WikipediaAssociated With: Flexible Response, lead paragraphQuote, 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
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