Flexible Response
Flexible Response.The doctrine of “flexible response” was a not entirely successful attempt to “square the circle” of nuclear weapons strategy by suggesting ways in which nuclear weapons could be used, together with conventional weapons, in battle without invoking nuclear Armageddon. Though it remains a part of official U.S. policy in the 1990s, it has been eclipsed by increasing awareness that nuclear weapons have no utility except to deter others from using these weapons.
The phrase was widely publicized by Gen. Maxwell Taylor in his book The Uncertain Trumpet (1960) published immediately after his resignation as chief of staff of the U.S. Army in protest to army budget cuts. Taylor argued that the doctrine of “massive retaliation” had been overtaken by events because of the growing Soviet nuclear capability, and that nuclear weapons, or at least strategic as distinguished...
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