Americans cheered in August 1945 when two U.S. atomic bombs dropped on Japan brought quick Japanese surrender, U.S. victory in World War II – and peace!
The U.S. nukes saved countless American – and Japanese – lives, because they made unnecessary the otherwise expected U.S. invasion of the Japanese islands.
But unfortunately, the U.S. monopoly in nuclear weapons did not last. Anxiety was aroused when the aggressive Communist Soviet Union, threatening conquest of Europe, developed nuclear weapons of its own – in some degree through espionage in the United States.
A nuclear “stalemate” with the Soviet Union resulted. That required the U.S. expenditure of huge amounts of resources for defensive action against possible Soviet nuclear aggression.
Over the years, as the Soviet Union broke up, the threat of a nuclear attack seemed to diminish. But other nations developed nukes, and the danger has continued.
So the United States has been forced to upgrade and maintain a huge nuclear arsenal, to be sure we could prevent war if possible, or win it if necessary.
There have been negotiations and treaties designed to ease the threats by limiting nuclear weapons proliferation. But justified uneasiness has prevailed, even as there have been international agreements supposedly holding the line on nuclear expansion.
A currently proposed treaty between the United States and Russia would reduce both countries’ strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550, with reduction of launch vehicles – missile silos and such – to 800.
But who can trust Russia – or others – to limit nukes, or abide by any agreement? And what about “outlaw” nations?
Noting the great destruction that just two relatively primitive nukes caused in Japan, just consider what destruction could be caused by multiple and more advanced nukes today! Who can be sure our enemies will never threaten us with nuclear weapons?
Fortunately, for many reasons, the threat of war with nuclear weapons has receded. (Remember when the Soviets sought to install nukes in Communist Cuba in 1962 – just 90 miles from our shores?) Also, the threat of “mutually assured destruction” has discouraged nuclear war.
But since nukes exist, and are possessed or in development by several nations ruled by irrational people, nuclear anxiety has not been eliminated.
We surely hope there will never be another nuclear weapon exploded in war. But even with our extensive and expensive deterrents and defenses, we cannot guarantee some nuclear-armed idiot will not make the supreme mistake.
Our best defense still depends upon the assurance that any attacking enemy of our country would be annihilated. It is regrettable that even such a thought must be considered.
But in our unstable world, with many kinds of enemies, the nuclear threat still exists. We must maintain our deterrent.
President Ronald Reagan said we must “trust – but verify.” But we certainly can’t “trust.” And we cannot be sure we can “verify.” So we must remain on guard.