Changes

Conservative Republicans, dissatisfied that Castro had escaped the noose, rallied behind Senator [[Barry Goldwater]] and editor [[William F. Buckley]]. They redirected the GOP to an aggressive [[rollback]] policy of the sort represented by the rejected invasion option.  

Conservative Republicans, dissatisfied that Castro had escaped the noose, rallied behind Senator [[Barry Goldwater]] and editor [[William F. Buckley]]. They redirected the GOP to an aggressive [[rollback]] policy of the sort represented by the rejected invasion option.  

Realizing how close they had come to war, Kennedy and Khrushchev became much friendlier in public. They signed a test ban treaty that eliminated nuclear testing above ground or in space; the treaty was primarily designed to hobble China and other countries trying to build their first bombs. Defense of the US no longer relied on field armies, but on a triad of strategic forces: 1,054 land-based ICBMs, 650 submarine-based SLBMs, and 400 B-52 bombers.  

Realizing how close they had come to war, Kennedy and Khrushchev became friendlier in public. But Khrushchev's days were numbered after the humiliating backdown. They signed a test ban treaty that eliminated nuclear testing above ground or in space; the treaty was primarily designed to hobble China and other countries trying to build their first bombs. Defense of the US no longer relied on field armies, but on a triad of strategic forces: 1,054 land-based ICBMs, 650 submarine-based SLBMs, and 400 B-52 bombers.  

The Kremlin vowed never again would Communism be humiliated by raw American nuclear superiority. Khrushchev was overthrown and replaced with a less volatile, more systematic hardliner, [[Leonid Brezhnev]] (1906–82). Russia built its own submarines and SLBM, and speeded manufacture of ICBMs; by 1971 it had caught up with the US. The US response was to add multiple warheads (MIRV) to each missile; the number of strategic warheads thereby doubled from about 5,000 in the 1960s to about 10,000 after 1976.  

The Kremlin vowed never again would Communism be humiliated by raw American nuclear superiority. Khrushchev was overthrown and replaced with a less volatile, more systematic hardliner, [[Leonid Brezhnev]] (1906–82). Russia built its own submarines and SLBM, and speeded manufacture of ICBMs; by 1971 it had caught up with the US. The US response was to add multiple warheads (MIRV) to each missile; the number of strategic warheads thereby doubled from about 5,000 in the 1960s to about 10,000 after 1976.