NUCLEAR DETERRENCE IS BASED UPON THE IMAGE OF ARMAGEDDON EVENTUALLY LEADING US TO DESTRUCTION. Nuclear Arms as a Philosophical and Moral Issue. Robert P. Churchill Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 469, Nuclear Armament and Disarmament (Sep, 1983), pp. 46-57. Published by Sage Publications, Inc. in association with the American Academy of Political and Social Science Stable URL http://www.jstor.org/stable/1044534 Furthermore, since nuclear deterrence requires credible threats that weapons maybe used, its success diminishes its own credibility, and efforts to reassert its credibility threaten to bring about its failure. The runaway arms race is due only in part to worst-case analyses on both sides and current methods of weapons procurement it is also a product of the constant need to underwrite deterrence with the image of Armageddon. Since perceptions of our preparation for self-protection and of our willingness to retaliate are directly correlated, nuclear deterrence will require greater efforts to ensure the survivability of our nuclear forces. What better way to communicate the seriousness of our intent than to commit a staggering proportion of the federal budget to the development of new weapons President Reagan argued that defense budget cuts "will send a signal of decline, of lessened will, to friends and adversaries alike
