Research, ideas, and leadership for a more secure, peaceful world

Past Event
Seminar

Crisis in Command: Origins of U.S. Nuclear Command and Control, 1958–1962

Open to the Public

Throughout the Cold War, many officials and analysts feared that nuclear warfare could not be controlled. Nuclear forces were so complex, and their leadership so vulnerable to attack, that a major confrontation might quickly collapse into random violence against civilian populations. Despite more than $1 trillion in funding, the search for satisfaction outlasted the Cold War itself. This seminar explores the historical origins of U.S. nuclear command and control in the five years after Sputnik, when the issue first attracted high-level attention.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.

Date: Time: - Location: Littauer Building - Belfer Center Library, Room 369
The underground command post of the Strategic Air Command, circa 1965. In the event of a war with the Soviet Union, most U.S. nuclear forces would have received their striking orders from this room.

About

Throughout the Cold War, many officials and analysts feared that nuclear warfare could not be controlled. Nuclear forces were so complex, and their leadership so vulnerable to attack, that a major confrontation might quickly collapse into random violence against civilian populations. Despite more than $1 trillion in funding, the search for satisfaction outlasted the Cold War itself. This seminar explores the historical origins of U.S. nuclear command and control in the five years after Sputnik, when the issue first attracted high-level attention.

Decisions made and not made during the John F. Kennedy Administration defined the nature of the problem, as well as the limits on the solution, for the next three decades. By asking how leaders and experts first understood nuclear command and control, the speaker will try to explain why the issue was so difficult to manage.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.

Up Next