Danger of Mutually Assured Destruction: Managing the Cold War 1962-85

The threat of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) was the Cold War policy that awakened the young activist in me. MAD posited that each superpower had enough nuclear weaponry to destroy the other. If one superpower attempted a first strike on the other, they themselves would also be destroyed. This was meant as both promise and deterrence. Whenever I would get upset by nuclear proliferation (we had enough firepower to destroy the world 13 times over during my formative years), my mom would have me write a letter to the editor of ur local paper.