"US Considered Nuclear Strike On China Over Taiwan In 1958" Topic

"US military planners pushed for nuclear strikes on mainland China in 1958 to protect Taiwan from an invasion by Communist forces, classified documents posted online by Daniel Ellsberg of "Pentagon Papers" fame show.

US planners also assumed that the Soviet Union would aid China and retaliate with nuclear weapons -- a price they deemed worth paying to protect Taiwan, according to the document, first reported by the New York Times.

Former military analyst Ellsberg posted online the classified portion of a top-secret document on the crisis that had been only partially declassified in 1975. Ellsberg, now 90, is famous for his 1971 leak to US media of a top-secret Pentagon study on the Vietnam war known as the Pentagon Papers…"
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Armand

Is there pdf of those documents

To be fair, we have also considered nuking hurricanes, and the ground, too.

We also saved the Chi-coms from being nuked by Russia, when they wanted to do that and wanted us to join in with them on the project.

If there was a meeting and one guy opined "we should nuke'm till they glow in the dark" then somebody "pushed" for that option

We also saved the Chi-coms from being nuked by Russia, when they wanted to do that and wanted us to join in with them on the project.

I'm interested in hearing the details as it's something I was not aware of.

Wolfhag

Me too!….

Armand

Yes, Nukes were talked about being used on Vietnam too … But I think most understood that would be a bigger problem overall …

This occurred, as Legion correctly points out, during the Vietnam period – Nixon was still in charge then.

Essentially, the USA said we would consider an attack on China with nuclear weapons and attack on the USA, in order to dissuade them from proceeding further.

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Of course, if WWIII started, we also had plans to nuke both the Soviet Union and China, im addition to various other European countries as well, under our SIOP plans – East Germany, Czechoslovakia, etc., etc..

Heck, back then, I imagine we had plans to deal harshly with Canada too, and probably still do, among others around the globe.

Dude…! (smile)

Armand

The US has always had a policy of using nukes first, not just in retaliation. This was made clear to the Soviets during the Cold War in case they ever tried to attack Western Europe (ie NATO) with overwhelming conventional force. We knew they outnumbered us so the threat of first use nukes was a deterrent.

Concerning our Vietnam conflict, it wasn't until Nixon was in charge that the situation started to improve with Operations Linebacker 1 & 2. Basically bomb the hell out of Hanoi until they agreed to sign a peace treaty. Nixon inherited a crap sandwich from the previous administrations and put an end to our national nightmare.

to improve with Operations Linebacker 1 & 2. Basically bomb the hell out of Hanoi until they agreed to sign a peace treaty.

Some say those air ops should have started years before … I tend to agree. Destroying an enemies' infrastructure, supplies, support, etc. Is generally accepted to be how to win/end a war. It may have resulted in a North & South Vietnam as it was before, and as it is in the Koreas. But that is just a theory …

If you had ever been involved in planning on a strategic level, you know that every option is considered . It is a staff officers responsibility to present all option to a commander, good, bad and even unoperational. It is their responsibility to chose. It is no secret that USA had plans on file to invade every country.
They are also updated regularly to make use of new weapons and technology. For example one of my last assignments in a FORSCOM supply unit was to update logistic plans to include more Guard and Reserve units to participate in a invasion/defense of Korea, Japan and Taiwan. The old plans were 1974. Unit tasks had changed.
So use of nukes has been included in war plans to secure most countries, even allied ones.
Think about the French strategic policy of using nukes on the Russians while they were still in Germany and before they reached the French border. Same thing.

Very true … At Combined Arms school we were taught to come up with 4 Courses of Action for many situations, events, etc.

Plus in the Pentagon, they have OPLANs for invading Canada, Mexico, Aliens landing on the WH lawn, etc.

We wouldn't boycott Chinese products for Taiwan today. They're screwed.

China sooner or later one way or another are going to make Taiwan their own and call it Formosa again. Especially with what is going on today in the USA, etc.

Predators can sense weakness …As we recently saw again a couple of days ago …