means the ability to strike first and disarm the opponent at the same time. If the U.S.S.R. had active nuclear missile .
bases in Cuba, many Americans feared that the Soviets could make an attempt take out our air .
bases without our even realizing it until it was too late. In being so close to the U.S. coast, they could conduct strikes .
against our B-52 bases virtually undetected by our radar. This would eliminate our ability to strike back at them. .
Even when we realized they were attacking it would be to late to do anything. With our ability to counter attack .
gone, the Soviets could dictate whatever policy it wanted to the U.S., and we would have no choice but to accept .
their terms. If we did not, we would suffer the consequences (Smoke 36). Those consequences could be very harsh .
and detrimental to our society. .
A country that has first strike capability knows that it can start a war any time it chooses. On the .
other hand, a country that knows that they are not capable of first strike, will not be as willing to start a war. This .
was the problem we had encountered in Cuba. We believed that the placing of Soviet missiles inside of Cuba's .
borders would give them this first strike ability. In our eyes, that seriously endangered our national security. So we .
decided that we must either eliminate the threat, or have them withdraw all nuclear materials from their bases in .
Cuba (36-37). .
Richard Smoke, the author of Nuclear Arms Control: Understanding the Arms Race, sees the Soviets as a people .
who tried every option possible to get every advantage that they could. Khrushchev believed that putting nuclear .
missiles in Cuba was the most expedient way to close the .
missile gap with the United States. In Smoke's opinion, they were willing to risk WW III in order to obtain first .
strike capability. As he says, the plan .
almost worked, but a U.S. U2 spy plane discovered the secret bases on Cuba just before they were finished (44).
