Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO.pdf - Program on Strategic ...

against the Communist bloc in response to Communist
aggression. 6
In light of this policy, U.S. naval forces deployed
with nuclear weapons aboard in the Western Pacific,
<strong>and</strong> U.S. ground <strong>and</strong> air elements based nuclear
weapons onshore in South Korea, the Philippines, <strong>and</strong>
Taiwan, as well as components for nuclear weapons
delivery in Japan. 7 U.S. ground, air, <strong>and</strong> naval forces
all planned to employ nuclear weapons as a matter of
course in the event of war with the Communist bloc.
During the First Taiwan Straits Crisis in 1954 over
the Nationalist-held isl<strong>and</strong>s off mainl<strong>and</strong> China, U.S.
Pacific Comm<strong>and</strong>’s forces slated to defend Taiwan
were prepared for the execution of a war plan involving
the use of nuclear weapons. Indeed, to a large extent
U.S. forces designated for the defense of Taiwan
were incapable of conducting sustained non-nuclear
operations. This situation remained true during the
Second Taiwan Straits Crisis in 1958, when U.S. forces
delayed even preparing a non-nuclear option for defense
of Taiwan until several months into the crisis. 8
The same held true in Europe, where, if the Warsaw
Pact blockaded or attacked Berlin, Germany, U.S.
forces intended to attempt a conventional relief using
a relatively small conventional force. If this failed, the
United States planned to “resort to general war.” 9
This thoroughgoing reliance on nuclear weapons
also played a major role in shaping the nature of the
alliances <strong>and</strong> political relationships into which Washington
entered <strong>and</strong> in determining the footprint of the
U.S. military presence abroad. Because in the early
Cold War era U.S. military power relied primarily
upon nuclear weapons <strong>and</strong> especially upon the threatened
implementation of a general nuclear attack, the
requirements of nuclear comm<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> control <strong>and</strong>
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