adlai stevenson was known for his policy of massive retaliation and his approach to war called brinkmanship.
adlai stevenson was known for his policy of massive retaliation and his approach to war called brinkmanship.
who was known for his policy of massive retaliation and his approach to war called brinkmanship?
adlai stevenson
brinkmanship is the ostensible escalation of threats to achieve one's aims. the word was probably coined by adlai stevenson in his criticism of the philosophy described as "going to the brink" in an interview with secretary of state john foster dulles under the eisenhower administration, during the cold war. in an article written in life magazine, john foster dulles then defined his policy of brinkmanship as "the ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is the necessary art." during the cold war, this was used as a policy by the united states to coerce the soviet union into backing down militarily. eventually, the threats involved might become so huge as to be unmanageable at which point both sides are likely to back down. this was the case during the cold war; the escalation of threats of nuclear war, if carried out, are likely to lead to mutually assured destruction.
brinkmanship
president john f. kennedy abandoned the policy of massive retaliation during the cuban missile crisis in favor of flexible response. the soviet nuclear mrbms in cuba had very short flight time to their us targets and could have crippled the sac bomber bases before the aircraft could take off and launch massive retaliation against the soviet union. under the kennedy administration, the united states adopted a more flexible policy in an attempt to avert nuclear war if the soviets did not cooperate with american demands. if the united states' only announced military reaction to any soviet incursion (no matter how small) was a massive nuclear strike, and the u.s. didn't follow through, then the soviets would assume that the united states would never attack. this would have made the soviet union far more bold in its military ventures against u.s. allies and would probably have resulted in a full-scale nuclear war. thomas schelling's deterrence theory discusses this more sharply: "signalling", or the use of threats internationally to deter an enemy from an attack or to make demands. if signals weren't being properly addressed by the soviet union, if the threats were not intimidating or coercing them to remove the missiles from cuba, then the soviet union would simply not have believed that the u.s.'s policy of massive retaliation held any water. by having other, more flexible policies to deal with aggressive soviet actions, the u.s. could opt out of a nuclear strike and take less damaging actions to rectify the problem without losing face in the international community.
massive retaliation