Sold – Pres. Kennedy Articulates to the Father of the Nuclear Navy That the “awesome destructive power harnessed” by Nuclear Weapons Should Be Used to Deter and Not Destroy Deterrence Rather Than Use

"Now, we truly have the ability to strike from out of the deep any target on the face of the earth. However, unless this system serves the real purpose for which it was conceived and built – to deter rather than to destroy – we will have failed in our mission."

 

Since Alfred T. Mahan published his seminal work "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History" in 1890, wrote a Naval War College historian, the American who had the greatest impact on the United States Navy was Adm. Hyman G. Rickover.

World War II was barely over when Rickover, in 1946, recognized nuclear power "as an opportunity for the Navy".  The next year he received training in nuclear power at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and there began exploring the possibility of nuclear ship propulsion. In February 1949 he was assigned to the Division of Reactor Development within the Atomic Energy Commission and then assumed control of the Navy's effort as Director of the Naval Reactors Branch. Using this twin role as a platform, with unrelenting determination, Rickover advocated, in fact championed, nuclear power in his effort to modernize the U.S. Navy, expand its reach and efficiency, and increase its firepower in a world in the midst of the Cold War. His strategy was to keep the Executive Branch and Congress fully informed and thoroughly engaged, and as a result of his success in doing so, his program was approved. He then supervised the construction of the world's first nuclear powered submarine, USS Nautilus (which joined the fleet in January 1955), and over the next decades spearheaded the building of the U.S. Navy's nuclear fleet and oversaw its operations. This involved not merely outfitting submarines, but aircraft carriers and other ships as well, and increasing the firepower of the fleet with Polaris missiles. Using his submarines and missiles, American might could now be delivered to any point in the world; and American submarines could cruise, silently and never surfacing, beneath the waves shadowing Soviet naval movements, collecting Soviet missile telemetry and eavesdropping on Soviet communications. This had not merely military implications, but diplomatic ones as well; as although no point on earth was safe from destruction, the ultimate goal was deterrence rather than war.

Rickover advised all presidents from Truman through Reagan, and had close relationships with a number of them. President Kennedy consulted Rickover on many matters, including the question of the multilateral nuclear force that would place international crews on American submarines. He extended Rickover's period of service past the standard retirement age. President Nixon promoted Rickover to four-star admiral. Rickover gave Jimmy Carter, when the latter was a young naval officer, his first important job; Carter later stated that Rickover had a "profound effect on my life, perhaps more than anyone else except my own parents." Rickover was awarded numerous medals and decorations, including the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, and the Congressional Gold Medal for exceptional public service. In 1980 President Carter gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest non-military honor, for his contributions to world peace. In addition to presidents, Rickover had close relationships with many in Congress, and was frequently on Capitol Hill.

Rickover had a well-deserved reputation for doing whatever was necessary to see his projects to completion. He was famous for ignoring traditional naval customs and for bypassing existing organizational hierarchies. He demanded the very highest standards and pushed defense contractors, his staff and himself to the limit. According to the U.S. Navy website, Admiral Rickover "exerted tremendous personal influence over the nuclear Navy in both an engineering and cultural sense. His views touched matters of design, propulsion, education, personnel, and professional standards. In every sense, he played the role of father to the nuclear fleet, its officers, and its men." After 64 years of service, Rickover retired from the Navy as a full admiral in 1982. He was the oldest full-time employee of the federal government and arguably the longest-serving military man in the nation’s history.

An important part of the developing stability was based on the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction or MAD, which was also called the policy of deterrence. This stated that one attack would be met with an equally devastating counter attack, that both parties would be destroyed, that neither would attempt an attack. Such a policy relied on the demonstration of strength.  Although it went through several iterations, the Cold War stalemate relied on this idea that no country dare attack the other for fear of the consequences.   This policy came into prominence during the Kennedy administration.

The Polaris missile was a two-stage, solid fuel, nuclear-armed and submarine-launched ballistic missile, and Rickover's submarines were the delivery mechanism for those missiles. The Polaris was developed to complement the medium-range missile systems deployed throughout Europe, as those systems lacked the range to attack major Soviet targets. The Polaris system fit a Mutually Assured Destruction scenario, as, along with the submarines that delivered them, they could assure that any attack on the US would be met with equal and immediate devastation in the USSR.

Between 1960-1966, the U.S. built a fleet of 40 of Rickover's nuclear submarines capable of showing up anywhere and firing up to 16 Polaris missiles each. President Kennedy approved of the missile program and agreed to share its technology with the British, which meant that in time a multilateral nuclear force would be created. It was considered quite possible that nuclear weapons would be used in battle in future wars.

However, the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 had been a close call of nuclear chicken, too close a call it seemed to Kennedy. He sought avoid such potential catastrophes in the future, and proposed a nuclear test ban treaty as a starting point; reduced tensions was essential also, as he made clear in a speech delivered in June 1963: "I also believe that we must reexamine our own attitude…every thoughtful citizen who despairs of war and wishes to bring peace, should begin by looking inward – by examining their own attitude toward the possibilities of peace, toward the Soviet Union, toward the course of the cold war and toward freedom and peace here at home.”

Nuclear weapons could no longer be an active option for use in his mind. But they still had a use, one that was designed to deter but not to destroy.  Khrushchev had come to essentially the same conclusion, that using nuclear weapons was unacceptable; and he had the same problem with hard-liners in the Kremlin.

Rickover was not one of the American hard-liners, but Adm. George Anderson, chief of naval operations, was. In charge of the blockade of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Anderson yelled "We've been had!" when he heard of Kennedy's compromise agreement with Khrushchev. Privy to this outburst and feeling it inappropriate, Rickover informed Defense Secretary Robert MacNamara soon after the crisis that Anderson had been “absolutely insubordinate” and had tried to subvert the President’s orders on the blockade. MacNamara, of course, informed Kennedy.

On October 11, Admiral Galantin had test fired Polaris missiles from the newly operational USS Andrew Jackson, a nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine that Rickover had helped launch. The Polaris A3 missile was the first to have a range for 2,500 miles.  This meant that US vessels could fire on the USSR far from its shores, a powerful deterrent.  Its firing from the Andrew Jackson earlier that month was its first test from an underwater platform. The American nuclear deterrent was reaching fruition.

Typed letter signed, on White House letterhead, October 30, 1963, to Admiral Rickover, defining his view of the purpose of nuclear weapons. "Thank you for your letter of the 21st from the USS Woodrow Wilson. I, too, have become increasingly aware of the awesome destructive power harnessed in our Polaris system. Just last week end Adm. Galantin send me a message from the Andrew Jackson – the same submarine whose first sea trials you reported only last May – recording the successful firing of the first A3 missile from a submerged platform. Now, we truly have the ability to strike from out of the deep any target on the face of the earth. However, unless this system serves the real purpose for which it was conceived and built – to deter rather than to destroy – we will have failed in our mission. I firmly believe, and earnestly hope, that for the reasons you so succinctly stated, the Polaris weapons system, for which we are much in your debt, will make a major contribution to this end."

This is a greatly important Kennedy letter, defining the policy of an Administration and of a generation, recognizing the success of a major nuclear technological innovation, and stating his opinion on the proper use of nuclear weapons.  Letters of Kennedy on the American nuclear program are very scarce, this being the first we've had. And this one is of particular importance, carrying his momentous realization that now no place was safe from the threat of nuclear weapons and attributing the success of the program to Rickover. We obtained this extraordinary letter directly from the Rickover family, and it is offered for sale here for the first time.