Kennedy: We have enough missiles to blow you [USSR] up thirty times over. Khrushchev: We have enough to blow you up only once, but that will be enough for us.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Mutual destruction deterrence means even a single strike is sufficient to end a conflict.
- In plain terms
- You only need to destroy your enemy once to win.
- What can you take from it?
- Deterrence relies on the certainty of mutual loss.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is deterrence still relevant today?
Another view
This logic ignores non-nuclear consequences and moral costs.
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