Emergency War Plan

Emergency War Plan examines the theory and practice of nuclear deterrence and its emergence during the Cold War. The language that evolved around deterrence in the 1940s and 1950s was not diplomatic-speak. It was technological and operational and carefully chosen to establish and maintain credibility.

The opposition had to see that a threat was credible. That meant aircraft, bombs, missiles, command and control facilities, planning, and exercises. Yet examinations of nuclear strategy during this time were, for the most part, pigeonholed as "Massive Retaliation" and "Mutually Assured Destruction," conveniently summed up as "MAD." These declaratory descriptors themselves evolved into slogans, and any serious discussion of them faded.

Slogans mask the complex nature of concepts and situations and allow dismissal or mockery, as in the film Dr. Strangelove. It's possible that the secret elements of the deterrence enterprise made public understanding difficult, if not impossible.

The whole picture was not available then, but now, with the declassification of nuclear war strategies, it may be discernible. Emergency War Plan draws on and even challenges the prevailing view on what intelligence was available so that Strategic Air Command could carry out its mission. Sean Maloney examines the relationship of nuclear weapons to their targets and even draws on newly released weapons effects information along with new information about Soviet capabilities.

He highlights how the process was supposed to work and where it might not have worked. Ultimately what emerges is a gargantuan and potentially devastating enterprise that was only understood by the public at the time in very general terms.