ABSTRACT
Views on the no-first-use issue are affected by differences both in geography and in strategic nuclear philosophy. A declaration by the United States that it would never use nuclear weapons first is bound to be of greater concern to western European allies than to citizens of the United States and Canada. Of even greater significance is the difference in views within the United States arising from the widely divergent perspectives on the utility and versatility of nuclear weapons themselves. A prolonged conventional war in Europe, given the immense increase in sophistication and destructive power of conventional weaponry in the past three decades, would largely destroy that small and congested continent. Deterrence, if it is to mean salvation for its population, must include deterrence of any major war. Without doubt, any first use of battlefield nuclear weapons carries an inescapable risk of employment of Soviet battlefield nuclear shells and missiles.
