Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety

“It would be perfect rot to talk about shipping troops”: At a White House meeting, Eisenhower lost his cool, pounded the table repeatedly, and said, “You see, actually, the only thing we fear is an atomic attack delivered by air on our cities. God damn it? It would be perfect rot to talk about shipping troops abroad when fifteen of our cities were in ruins. You would have disorder and almost complete chaos in the cities and in the roads around them. You would have to restore order and who is going to restore it? Do you think the police and fire departments of those cities could restore order? Nuts! That order is going to have to be restored by disciplined armed forces.” According to Eisenhower’s press secretary, the room fell silent, and you could hear a pin drop. Quoted in “Diary Entry by the President’s Press Secretary (Hagerty),” Washington, D.C., February 1, 1955, United States State Department, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, vol. 19, National Security Policy (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1990), pp. 39–40.

“You can’t have this kind of war”: Quoted in Gregg Herken, Counsels of War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 116.

PART THREE: ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN

Acceptable Risks

Jimmy Stewart enlisted in the Army: For a fine account of Stewart’s military service, see Starr Smith, Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot (Minneapolis: Zenith Press, 2005).

He flew dozens of those missions: Cited in ibid., p. 263.

“He always maintained a calm demeanor”: The officer was Colonel Ramsay Potts, commander of the 453rd Bomb Group. Quoted in ibid., p. 125.

Stewart visited SAC headquarters: For the origins of the film, see Hedda Hopper, “General LeMay Briefs Stewart for Film,” Los Angeles Times, December 27, 1952. The film is also mentioned at some length in the chapter “The Heyday of SAC: The High Point of the Popular Culture Crusade,” in Steve Call, Selling Air Power: Military Aviation and Popular Culture After World War II (College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2009), pp. 100–131.

“Toughest Cop of the Western World”: See Ernest Havemann, “Toughest Cop of the Western World,” Life, June 14, 1954.

“It wouldn’t dare”: Quoted in ibid.

a study by the RAND analyst Albert Wohlstetter: See A. J. Wohlstetter, F. S. Hoffman, R. J. Lutz, and H. S. Rowen, “Selection and Use of Strategic Bases,” a report prepared for United States Air Force Project Rand, R-266, April 1954 (SECRET/declassified).

“Training in SAC was harder than war”: The officer was General Jack J. Catton, who served with LeMay for sixteen years. Quoted in Kohn and Harahan, Strategic Air Warfare, p. 97.

Rhinelander, Wisconsin, became one of SAC’s favorite targets: See Thomas M. Coffey, Iron Eagle: The Turbulent Life of General Curtis LeMay (New York: Crown Publishers, 1986), p. 342.

the SAC battle plan called for 180 bombers: Cited in Wainstein et al., “Evolution of U.S. Command and Control,” p. 257.

the bombardier had aimed at the wrong island: See Hansen, Swords of Armageddon, Volume IV, pp. 160–2.

94 SAC bombers tested the air defense system: For the results of Operation Tailwind, see Wainstein et al., “Evolution of U.S. Command and Control,” pp. 103–4.

Ten Bisons flew past the reviewing stand: The CIA later admitted its error; the ten that flew past were the only ten in existence. See Donald P. Steury, ed., Intentions and Capabilities: Estimates on Soviet Strategic Forces, 1953–1983 (Washington, D.C.: History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, 1996), p. 5.

more than 100 of the planes: General LeMay publicly testified that the Soviets already had that many — and he may even have believed it. During a top secret speech to his own officers, LeMay said the Soviet Union would soon be building 300 new bombers a year. For the 100 estimate, see “Bison vs. B-52: LeMay Testifies,” New York Times, May 6, 1956. For his prediction about Soviet bomber production, see “Remarks: LeMay at Commander’s Conference,” p. 13.

the Soviets would be able to attack the United States with 700 bombers: Cited in “Soviet Gross Capabilities for Attack on the US and Key Overseas Installations and Forces Through Mid-1959,” National Intelligence Estimate Number 11–56, Submitted by the Director of Central Intelligence, 6 March 1956 (TOP SECRET/declassified), p. 3, in Intentions and Capabilities, p. 16.

“It is clear that the United States and its allies”: Quoted in “The Nation: Wilson Stands Ground,” New York Times, July 8, 1956.

an extra $900 million for new B-52s: In this case a Democratic Congress approved a major increase in defense spending that a Republican president didn’t want. See “Wilson Raps Any Air Fund Boost,” Los Angeles Times, June 22, 1956, and “House-Senate Group Agrees to Hike Air Force Budget by $900 Million,” Wall Street Journal, June 29, 1956.