Editing Daniel Ellsberg (section)

==== Nuclear threats by the United States ====
Ellsberg wrote in his 1981 essay ''Call to Mutiny'' that, "every president from Truman to Reagan, with the possible exception of Ford, has felt compelled to consider or direct serious preparations for possible imminent U.S. initiation of tactical or strategic nuclear warfare".<ref>{{citation |last=Betts |first=Richard K. |page=7 |title=Nuclear Blackmail and Nuclear Balance |date=December 1, 2010 |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |isbn=978-0-8157-1708-9}}</ref> Some of these threats were implicit; many were explicit.  Many governmental officials and authors claimed that those threats made major contributions to achieving important policy objectives. Ellsberg's examples are summarized in the following table:<ref>For more on this, see especially {{cite Q|Q63874626}}<!--Call to Mutiny-->;  {{cite Q|Q63874634}}<!-- Force without War:  U.S. Armed forces as a political instrument -->;  {{cite Q|Q63874641}}<!--Empire and the bomb:  How the U.S. uses nuclear weapons to dominate the world -->;  {{cite Q|Q63874649}}<!-- U.S. Nuclear Threats:  A documentary history -->;  {{cite Q|Q63874665}}<!-- Nuclear Blackmail and Nuclear Balance -->, cited from {{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, especially the second-to-last chapter.</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
! President !! Target !! Incident
|- 
| rowspan="2" | [[Presidency of Harry S. Truman|Truman (1945–1953)]]
| {{flagu|Soviet Union}}
| [[Berlin Blockade]] (June 24, 1948{{Snd}}May 12, 1949).<ref>At the outset of this incident, Truman deployed B-29s similar to those that dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but not the nuclear-capable [[Silverplate]] version, [[Strategic Air Command in the United Kingdom#Berlin Blockade|to bases in Britain and Germany]] to deter the Soviet Union from officially transferring to East Germany control of the land corridor to Berlin, an explicit part of the Soviet plan. {{cite Q|Q63873810}}<!-- The Winning Weapon -->, pp. 256–274, cited from {{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, pp. 319, 378.</ref>
|- 
| {{flagu|China}}
| [[Korean War#China intervenes (October–December 1950)|Chinese intervention in the Korean War (October 1950)]].
|- 
| rowspan="4" | [[Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower (1953–1961)]] 
| {{flagu|China}}
| Korean War,<ref>For Eisenhower's secret nuclear threats against China to force and maintain a settlement in Korea in 1953, see {{cite Q|Q61945939}}<!-- Mandate for change-->, pp. 178–181, and {{cite Q|Q63874409}}<!-- Deterrence in American Foreign Policy -->, pp. 237–241, cited from {{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, pp. 319, 378.</ref> and Taiwan Strait crises of [[First Taiwan Strait Crisis|1954–55]] and [[Second Taiwan Strait Crisis|1958]].<ref name='Halperin1966'>{{cite Q|Q63874609}}<!-- The 1958 Taiwan Straits Crisis:  A documentary history-->, cited from {{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, pp. 320, 378.</ref>
|-
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of North Vietnam (1945–1955).svg}} [[Viet Minh|Vietnamese communists]]
| U.S. offers nuclear support to the French at [[Battle of Dien Bien Phu|Dien Bien Phu (1954)]].<ref>''[[Hearts and Minds (film)|Hearts and Minds]]'';  {{cite Q|Q63874430}}, pp. 121–122; see also {{cite Q|Q63874435}}<!--Memoirs of Richard Nixon -->, pp. 150–155; cited from {{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, pp. 319, 378.</ref>
|- 
| {{flagu|Soviet Union}}
| 1956 [[Suez Crisis]] and the [[Berlin Crisis of 1958–1959|1958–59 Berlin crisis]].<ref name='Nixon1985'>{{cite Q|Q63885038}}<!-- Nixon:  A nation coming into its own, July 29, 1985-->, cited from {{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, pp. 320, 379.</ref>
|- 
| {{flagcountry|Iraqi Republic (1958–1968)|1958}}
| To deter an invasion of [[Sheikhdom of Kuwait|Kuwait]] during the [[1958 Lebanon crisis]].<ref>{{cite Q|Q63874634}}<!-- Force without War:  U.S. Armed forces as a political instrument -->, pp. 238, 256, cited from {{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, pp. 320, 379.</ref>
|- 
| [[Presidency of John F. Kennedy|Kennedy (1961–1963)]] 
| {{flagu|Soviet Union}}
| [[Berlin Crisis of 1961]]<ref>{{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, ch. 10, "Berlin and the Missile Gap"; also {{cite Q|Q63874634}}<!-- Force without War:  U.S. Armed forces as a political instrument -->, pp. 343–439;  cited from {{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, pp. 320, 379.  Note:  On p. 176, Ellsberg mentioned "ending the Berlin Crisis in 1961".  Later, on p. 321, he mentioned "the 1961–62 Berlin crisis."  There is a Wikipedia article on "Berlin Crisis of 1961".  I therefore decided to ignore the reference to 1962 in this context, as I have not seen other references to Berlin crisis in 1962 and mentioning it would produce an apparent conflict with the title of the existing Wikipedia article on that.</ref> and 1962 [[Cuban Missile Crisis]].<ref>{{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, ch. 12. "My Cuban Missile Crisis" and ch. 13. "Cuba: The real story".</ref>
|- 
| [[Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson|Johnson (1963–1969)]] 
| {{flag|North Vietnam}}
| [[Battle of Khe Sanh]], Vietnam, 1968.<ref>{{cite Q|Q63887635}}<!-- The Unmaking of a President -->, pp. 89–91; also {{cite Q|Q63888313}}<!-- William C. Westmoreland (1976) A Soldier Reports -->, p. 338; cited from {{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, pp. 320, 379.</ref>
|-
| rowspan="3" | [[Presidency of Richard Nixon|Nixon (1969–1974)]] 
| {{flagu|Soviet Union}}
| To deter an attack on Chinese nuclear capability, 1969–70, or a Soviet response to possible Chinese intervention against India in the [[Indo-Pakistan War of 1971]], or an intervention in the [[Yom Kippur War|1973 Arab-Israeli War]].<ref name='Nixon1985'/><!-- Nixon:  A nation coming into its own, July 29, 1985--> 
|-
| {{flagu|North Vietnam}}
| Secret threats of massive escalation of the [[Vietnam War#Vietnamization, 1969–1972|Vietnam War]], including possible use of nuclear weapons, 1969–1972.<ref>{{cite Q|Q63888819}}<!-- H. R. Haldeman, The Ends of Power-->, pp. 81–85, 97–98;  {{cite Q|Q63874435}}<!--Memoirs of Richard Nixon -->, pp. 393–414;  {{cite Q|Q42194571}}<!-- Seymour Hersh, The Price of Power:  Kissinger in the Nixon White House-->;  {{cite Q|Q58522397}}<!--Larry Berman, No Peace, No Honor:  Nixon, Kissinger, and betrayal in Vietnam-->;  {{cite Q|Q63889289}}<!-- John A. Farrell, Richard Nixon:  The Life -->;  cited from {{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, pp. 320, 379.</ref>
|- 
| {{flagu|India}}
| [[Indo-Pakistan War of 1971]]<ref name='Nixon1985'/><!-- Nixon:  A nation coming into its own, July 29, 1985-->
|- 
| [[Presidency of Gerald Ford|Ford (1974–1977)]] 
| {{flagu|North Korea}}
| [[Korean axe murder incident]], in which two US army officers were killed while trying to trim a tree blocking open observation of the [[Korean Demilitarized Zone|Demilitarized Zone]].  Two days later, the tree was cut to a stump 6 meters tall in a massive show of force that included a [[B-52]] nuclear-capable bomber flying straight toward [[Pyongyang]] escorted by high performance fighter aircraft, while a US aircraft carrier task force moved into station just offshore.  Ellsberg noted that it might be more accurate to classify this incident {{em|not}} as  "nuclear threat" but a "show of force".<ref>{{cite Q|Q62111338}}<!-- Norris and Kristensen, U.S. Nuclear Threats-->;  {{cite Q|Q63892384}}<!-- John K. Singlaub, Hazardous Duty:  An American soldier in the twentieth century-->; {{cite Q|Q63893129}}<!-- Richard A. Mobley, Revisiting the Korean Tree-Trimming Incident-->, pp. 110–111, 113–114; consistent with {{cite Q|Q63874634}}<!-- Force without War:  U.S. Armed forces as a political instrument -->;  cited from {{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, pp. 321, 379.</ref>
|- 
| [[Presidency of Jimmy Carter|Carter (1977–1981)]]
| rowspan="2" | {{flagu|Soviet Union}}
| rowspan="2" | The [[Carter Doctrine]] on the Middle East to deter the Soviets, already in [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]], from moving next door into Iran to try to control the [[Persian Gulf]], through which the majority of the world's oil flowed at that time.<ref>This event was virtually unknown at the time outside secret government circles.  It was discussed six years later by {{cite Q|Q63917293}}<!--Schemmer (Sept. 1986) "Was the US ready to resort to nuclear weapons for the Persian Gulf in 1980?", Armed Forces Journal International --> and picked up by {{cite Q|Q63916660}}<!-- Halloran, "Washington Talk;  How leaders think the unthinkable", NYT, Sept 2, 1986-->.  It was described by Carter's Press Secretary Jody Powell as "the most serious nuclear crisis since the Cuban Missile Crisis."  See also {{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, pp. 321, 380.</ref>
|- 
| [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan (1981–1989)]] 
|- 
| [[Presidency of George H. W. Bush|G. H. W. Bush (1989–1993)]]
| {{flagcountry|Ba'athist Iraq|1963}}
| [[Gulf War|Operation Desert Storm]].<ref>{{cite Q|Q62111338}}<!-- Norris and Kristensen, U.S. Nuclear Threats-->, p. 71;   {{cite Q|Q63919049}}; cited from {{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, pp. 321, 380.</ref>  
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Presidency of Bill Clinton|Clinton (1993–2001)]]
| {{flagu|North Korea}}
| Secret threats in 1995 on its nuclear reactor program.<ref>{{cite Q|Q62111338}}<!-- Norris and Kristensen, U.S. Nuclear Threats-->, p. 70, citing testimony by General [[Eugene E. Habiger]] before the [[United States Senate Committee on Armed Services|U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee]], March 13, 1977; cited from {{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, pp. 321, 380.</ref>  
|- 
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of Libya (1977–2011).svg}} [[History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi|Libya]]
| Public warning of a nuclear option against Libya's underground chemical weapons facility in 1996.<ref>{{cite Q|Q62111338}}<!-- Norris and Kristensen, U.S. Nuclear Threats-->, citing {{cite Q|Q63919240}}; cited from {{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, pp. 322, 380.</ref> 
|- 
| [[Presidency of George W. Bush|G. W. Bush (2001–2009)]] and all presidents and leading candidates since 
| {{flagu|Iran}}
| Threats of a nuclear attack against Iran's nuclear program.<ref>{{cite Q|Q63862699}}<!--Doomsday Machine-->, pp. 327–332, 380–381</ref>
|}