Today in Presidents Making Casual Threats about Nuclear War History

Preparing such a speech occupied the tense corridors of the White House on October 31 (1956), which began with a frustrated Eisenhower searching for ways to halt the fighting in the Sinai.  “Let’s call it a ‘Bomb for Peace’,” he exploded at an emergency session that morning.  “It’s as simple as this:  let’s send one of Curt LeMay’s gang over the Middle East, carrying an atomic bomb.  And let’s warn everyone:  we’ll drop it — if they all don’t cut this nonsense out.”  Aghast, aides let the remark pass in silence.

Eisenhower:  The White House Years, Jim Newton, page 229.

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