Imaginer l'inimaginable. Guerre nucléaire et stratégie américaine depuis 1945

Imagining the unimaginable. Nuclear war and American strategy since 1945, Pierre Mélandri Since 1945, the American strategy has had to " imagine the unimaginable " : total nuclear war. But not without hesitations and variations when the President, his advisors, Congress and the army confronted each other. Truman envisaged recourse to nuclear arms only as the " last extremity ". In 1954, Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles accepted the idea of " massive retaliation " in order to make deterrence credible. Kennedy and McNamara, on the other hand, as early as 1960, wanted a pure " anti-force " strike, sparing the cities. In 1968, the inevitable " assured destruction " strategy was deemed necessary, but in 1974, its suicidal aspect was already an object of worry. Today, Reagan seems no longer to believe that such a war could be limited. Is the USA really capable to " cope whith history before it happens ", to use H. Kahn's words

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