What if the Cold War Wasn't Over?

In March 1958, Eisenhower was sent a disturbing memo by his Special Assistant for National Security. In this war game, 7 million kilotons of nuclear weapons had been detonated; the rough equivalent of 4,700 kirushivas. Over the course of Ike's eight-year administration, the size of the American nuclear arsenal swelled from 2,000 weapons to more than 20,000 weapons. It was an imbalance that cast a long shadow east, as Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev understood all too well.