From MAD to madness : inside Pentagon nuclear war planning : a memoir / by Paul H. Johnstone ; with commentary by Diana Johnstone.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Johnstone, Paul H. (Paul Howard), 1903-1981, author.

Johnstone, Diana, 1934- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Department of Defense. Weapons Systems Evaluation Group--History.

United States.

Johnstone, Paul H. (Paul Howard), 1903-1981.

Johnstone, Paul H.

United States. Department of Defense. Weapons Systems Evaluation Group.

Nuclear warfare--Government policy--United States--History--20th century.

Nuclear warfare.

Military planning--United States--History--20th century.

Military planning.

Military policy.

History.

Deterrence (Strategy).

Strategic forces.

Nuclear weapons--Government policy.

Nuclear warfare--Government policy.

Nuclear weapons--Government policy--United States--History--20th century.

Nuclear weapons.

Strategic forces--United States--History--20th century.

Deterrence (Strategy)--History--20th century.

United States--Military policy--History--20th century.

United States--Officials and employees--Biography.

Cold War.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

299 pages ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Inside Pentagon nuclear war planning, a memoir

Place of Publication:

Atlanta, GA : Clarity Press, Inc., [2017]

Summary:

"This deathbed memoir by Dr. Paul H. Johnstone, former senior analyst in the Strategic Weapons Evaluation Group (WSEG) in the Pentagon and a co-author of The Pentagon Papers, provides an authoritative analysis of the implications of nuclear war that remain insurmountable today. Indeed, such research has been kept largely secret, with the intention "not to alarm the public" about what was being cooked up. This is the story of how U.S. strategic planners in the 1950s and 1960s worked their way to the conclusion that nuclear war was unthinkable. It drives home these key understandings: - That whichever way you look at it -- and this book shows the many ways analysts tried to skirt the problem -- nuclear war means mutual destruction - That Pentagon planners could accept the possibility of totally destroying another nation, while taking massive destructive losses ourselves, and still conclude that "we would prevail". - That the supposedly "scientific answers" provided to a wide range of unanswerable questions are of highly dubious standing. - That official spheres neglect anything near a comparable effort to understand the "enemy" point of view, rather than to annihilate him, or to use such understanding to make peace. Dr. Johnstone's memoirs of twenty years in the Pentagon tell that story succinctly, coolly and objectively. While remaining highly secret - so much so that Dr. Johnstone himself was denied access to what he had written - these studies had a major impact on official policy. They contributed to a shift from the notion that the United States could inflict "massive retaliation" on its Soviet enemy to recognition that a nuclear exchange would bring about Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD). The alarming truth today is that these lessons seem to have been forgotten."--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction / by Diana Johnstone

Part 1. The spirit of the times

The fog of war planning

Memoirs of a humanist in the Pentagon / by Paul H. Johnstone

Foreword: what this is all about

The world of target planning

Air targets intelligence

Air targets doctrine

Economic war potential doctrine applied to occupation policies

Some problems and methods

Playing games with nuclear war

The Cold War atmosphere

Games and bonuses

The rise of fear

Part 2. Imagining doomsday

The fallout study

The "humane alternative"

The civilian morale study

The strategic weapons study

The tenor of the times

The command and control dilemma

Exploring "implications"

Part 3. The critical incident studies

The Laos crisis

The Berlin Crisis

Postface: Doomsday postponed / by Diana Johnstone.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Johnstone, Paul H. (Paul Howard), 1903-1981, author. From MAD to madness

ISBN:

9780997287097

0997287098

OCLC:

964501916