...the Senate two years before his election, were not going to start a nuclear war but would resort to "Sputnik diplomacy, limited brushfire wars, indirect...intimidation and subversion, internal revolution." Taylor's recommendation that "we must have the means to deter or to win small wars" meant that the...

...Soviet advances in strategic arms had neutralized the West's major advantage. Kennedy predicted: Their missile power will be the shield from 'behind which...of our allies. The periphery of the Free World will slowly be nibbled away. ...Each such Soviet move will weaken the West; but none will seem sufficiently...

...potentially disastrous leaks the United States would be called on to plug in the years ahead: "Their missile power will be the shield from behind which...of our allies. The periphery of the Free World will slowly be nibbled away. The balance of power will slowly shift against us." Describing American power...

...missile power will be the shield from behind which they will slowly, but surely, advance—through Sputnik diplomacy, limited brush-fire wars, indirect...of our allies. The periphery of the Free World will slowly be nibbled away. The balance of power will slowly shift against us." Describing American power...

...potentially disastrous leaks the United States would be called on to plug in the years ahead: "Their missile power will be the shield from behind which they will slowly, but surely, advance—through Sputnik diplomacy, limited brush-fire wars, indirect non-overt aggression, intimidation...

...1958-1960— the Public Record," John F. Kennedy Library. 128. In August 1958, Kennedy warned that "Soviet missile power will be the shield from behind which...of our allies. The periphery of the free world will slowly be nibbled away. The balance of power will gradually shift against us," 88th Cong., 2d sess.,...

...to see a different danger. The Soviets, John Kennedy warned, now had a "shield" of bombs and rockets "behind which they will slowly, but surely, advance...of our allies. The periphery of the Free World will slowly be nibbled away. The balance of power will gradually shift against us."69 The United States,...

...warned of a Soviet attempt to exploit their new strength on a substrategic level of violence: "Their missile power will be the shield from behind which...prestige or influence, and the vicious blackmail of our allies."73 These threats could be credibly deterred only with conventional forces.74 Kennedy articulated...

...their missile power to achieve their political objectives in ways other than direct attack—through "Sputnik diplomacy, limited brush-fire wars, indirect...influence, and the vicious blackmail of our allies." 40 Third, most US officials believed that the United States needed nuclear superiority to deter Soviet...

...the consideration of any alternative." The most likely threat, he said, was, not nuclear attack, but "Sputnik diplomacy, limited brushfire wars, indirect...aggression, intimidation and subversion, internal revolution ... a thrust more difficult to interpret and oppose, yet inevitably ending in our isolation, submission,...