In the immediate postwar period, the development of nuclear weapons and the intensification of the Cold War confronted the American people with daunting challenges and sometimes seemingly stark choices. Given the unprecedented pressures of the atomic era, wherein national security needs sometimes came perilously close to encroaching on the democratic foundations of American life, one of the most critical tasks was to assure the continued existence of a democratic republic in a dangerous world. To some people, such as Curtis LeMay, commander of the Strategic Air Command, the preeminent threat was external and easily identifiable-the Soviet Union, with its immense military might and totalitarian ideology, was the greatest danger that the United States had ever faced. The gruff, cigar-smoking general, one of the foremost proponents of air power during World War II, viewed nuclear weapons as a means to ensure the nation’s security, indeed survival, in a world dominated by the confrontation between the two superpowers. Individuals like LeMay, who considered themselves sober-minded realists, believed that nuclear armaments, as horrific as they were, offered the promise of deterring future conflict. Unlike those who considered major conflict in the atomic age unthinkable, LeMay advocated strategies that were premised on the possibility of nuclear Armageddon. Most alarmingly, LeMay spoke openly of situations in which the United States could resort to preemptive strikes against a threatening

enemy. His duty, he was convinced, was to take those steps that would ensure the survival and victory of the United States in a nuclear war that few other people would even ponder.