In the Korean War, MacArthur wanted to spread nuclear waste along the PLA trails south from N Korea to the 38th parallel to deter Red Chinese infiltration, end the war, save Korean, American and Chinese lives and lots of money.
Truman: “No.”
MacArthur bitched about it publicly.
Truman: “You’re fired.”
Ike (he and MacArthur being he last American General Officers to win their war) wanted - and campaigned on in 1952 - a negotiated end to this UN “Police Action.” So he back-channeled to Mao: “get to Panmunjom or I’ll nuke your ass.”
Mao: “OK.”
July, 1953, 6 months into Ike’s presidency: armistice signed.
January, 1954: Sec State Dulles gives Ike’s foreign & defense policy speech at CFR: attack America or our allies & we’ll “retaliate massively” (e.g.: nuke your ass). This policy became known as “MR,” “Massive Retaliation.”
Given his experience, adversaries believed him: no new wars.
Ike loathed conventional war as too costly in men and materiel. He once looked at a new bomber and asked, “How many schools did that bomber cost?”
Since then we’ve prototyped the XB70, built the B1, B2, are building the B21, have lost all our wars, and the “defense” budget is closing-in on $1T per year as our civilian & military “leadership” orders the Air Force to leave behind billion-dollar bases, our Army & Marines to quit the field, runs a Navy that drives ships into each other or lets them burn to the waterline, and deploys our forces for who knows what in 189 countries… but we’ve got our pronouns correct, our on-base drag shows scheduled, and our service academy cadets (I was USAFA ‘76) know not to call their parents “Mom” and “Dad.”
We’ve spent about $1T per year “containing” the NORKS. That’s $70 trillion. Ever wonder how we got to a $34T Debt?
Would we have spent that had Truman said “Go for it?”
Probably not.
If the NORKS heads south, we can choose our recent strategies from Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan… soon Yemen? … and spend trillions of dollars and thousands of our lives - and hundreds of thousands of enemy lives… and, of course, refuse to win, because no one buys bullets for won wars.
Or follow Ike’s policy, publicly announce MR, and act, or not, based on the reaction to that announcement by our adversaries: do they believe us and stand down, or not believe us, attack and get vaporized?
Either way, save all American lives, probably a million NORK lives, trillions of dollars, and ensure other adversaries understand we’re serious, saving yet more millions and trillions.
Nukes saved between 5M-9M lives in WW2, depending on whose estimate you believe, the Army or the Navy; 1M American lives and 5M (Army) - 9M (Navy) Japanese lives planned to be lost in an invasion of Japan, while Fat Man & Little Boy killed under 400K.
More force, faster, ALWAYS saves lives, yours and your enemy’s.
But that would require a mature American man in the oval, something we’ve lacked for quite some time, and don’t see on our horizon…