In article ,
(Jack Linthicum) writes:
(Peter Stickney) wrote in message ...
In article ,
"George Z. Bush" writes:

http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/npr/vol09/91/91krep.pdf which argues MAD came
about after the various treaties had established offensive missiles
but prohibited defensive missiles. Everyone tries to put a date on MAD
but I would argue that once Herman Kahn starting having his little
briefings on winning thermonuclear war the idea was fertilized and the
gestation period a matter of how you determine whether an idea is born
in the brain or on paper.

I've no doubt that Kahn, and, perhaps, a few others, thought up, or
bought into, the idea in the late '50s. That doesn't mean that it was
accepted, however, or, more importantly, implemented, in that era.
And it most certainly wasn't. In my opinion, the point that MAD could
be considered accepted is the point at which _both_ the U.S.A and the
U.S.S.R. decided that there wasn't any point in increasing their
strategic arsenals further. There was a sea-change for teh U.S. in
the mid '60s - The B-47s were retired without replacenment, The
cryogenically-fuelled (Well, Oxidized, really, but you know what I
mean) ICBMs were gone, the Titan II deployment was held to 54
missiles, the Minuteman deployment was complete, and teh SLBM fleet
was under way. The Soviets took a bit longer to catch up - they
didn't have any confidence in their manned bombers, and for all their
early demonstrations in the Space Race, their ICBM abilities were
poor, and their SLBM capability was worse. I'd say late '60s or so,
for them - let's fix it at the point where they were willing to
negotiate SALT I.

Snip Wikipedia Article. All very nice, but Wikipedia is being built
up by folks like you and me - its contents are only as rigorous as its
authors.

There were lots of wonky ideas floating around wrt what shape Global
Thermonuclear War would take. One of my favorite pieces of
foolishness was the Turtles - Giant Robotic Bomb Carriers, impervious
to al weapons, able to wade the deepest oceans, which would be
directed toward an enemy's targets to scare the into surrendering by
their slowly creeping menace.
That doesn't mean that the idea was accepted.

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster