The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner cover
The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner
by Daniel Ellsberg
ISBN: 1608196704
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acgourley · 2022-03-02 · Original thread
For a history of how it has in fact often been a single person, and may still be, see: https://www.amazon.com/Doomsday-Machine-Confessions-Nuclear-...
roywiggins · 2019-11-10 · Original thread
I was garbling a scenario from Ellsberg's book. I believe the time period in question was the 50s-early 60s (the same period where these tactical nukes were popular) when MAD was being enforced by bombers, not ICBMs.

According to Ellsberg, there was a period where there was no actual plan to defend Europe by other means than massive nuclear retaliation.

https://www.amazon.com/Doomsday-Machine-Confessions-Nuclear-...