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Originally Posted by canoe
I'm not sure what you mean by that.
The U.S has never required the use of nuclear weapons to achieve its military goals, true. However the U.S as it exists today would not be able to operate anywhere near as freely as it does at the moment without its nuclear stockpiles.
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Actually Dale was correct. The first atomic bomb was treated just like any other bomb, except 1000 times bigger. The Manhattan project aimed at harnessing fission for its explosive potention. They didn't know about other secondary effects like radiation sickness.
It was thought back then that and atomic bomb was so powerful that it may crack the earth's crust.
That's like saying if we detonate many nukes at the same time it may kick up enough dust and debris to block out the sun
The atomic bombs became a weapon of last resort, a terror weapon, after we saw the type of devastation from tiny 20kt devices dropped in Japan. Both US and USSR built megaton devices during the cold war. The largest ever was a USSR 59Mt device detonated in Siberia.
Both sides relied on the total destruction of the earth as a deterant to all out war. Both sides tried their best to develop new counter measures and new first strike weapons. But neither side had the confidence that their gadgets would work 100%. The bad thing, or the good thing, about nukes is that it only takes 1 to really ruin your day.