Flexible+Response+-+12-13

= Flexible Response = When President Kennedy stepped into office in 1961, he created an alternative to Eisenhower’s policy of Massive Retaliation and adopted a stance of Flexible Response. President Kennedy believed that Eisenhower’s emphasis on developing nuclear weapons had weakened the United States’ conventional forces. The policy focused on the use of conventional forces in war and offered alternatives, introducing the concept of limited nuclear war and consisting of a increased in conventional weapons system, to total nuclear war. Through the police of Flexible Response, Kennedy wanted to deter all wars, general or limited, nuclear or conventional, large or small. As the Flexible Response marked a shift from the Massive Retaliation, the previous policy, it called for mutual deterrence at tactical, strategic, and conventional levels of nuclear forces.
 * Brief Description **

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The United States of America President: John F. Kennedy Secretory of Defense: Robert S. McNamara
 * Major Players **

1961: President John F. Kennedy and Robert S. McNamara, the Secretory of Defense, began to implement Flexible Response.
 * Dates **

1961-1963: Throughout President John F. Kennedy’s presidency, although costly, the flexible response plan allowed the United States to fight a limited style of warfare.

The Flexible Response provided the Unites States with the capability to respond to aggressions across the variety of warfare, not limited to nuclear arms. As the Flexible Response allowed multiple options to enhance the credibility of the U.S. deterrent, it increased the unlikeliness that the U.S. would need or want nuclear attack. Not only the Flexible Response lead to the creation of the Strategic Triad doctrine, which held that the ICBMs, SLBMS, and strategic bombers should be able to impose unacceptable damage on the Soviet union independently of the other two, but it also allowed the second-strike capability, or the so-called assured destruction, as its guiding principle of deterrence. Assured Destructed focused on deterrence by precision, punishment, and credibility.
 * Outcomes **

Although the doctrine of Flexible Response was completely successful, it allowed the U.S. to take the stance against of Massive Retaliation during the Cold War. The Flexible Response emphasized the need for ready nonnuclear forces as a deterrent to limited war. The doctrine was accepted and continued to be used through the Cold War. Although it was costly, the Flexible Response allowed the United States to fight a limited style of warfare.
 * How this event influenced the Cold War as a whole **

"Chapter 27: Global Pressures and the Flexible Response." //Chapter 27: Global Pressures and the Flexible Response//. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2013. "Flexible Response." //Flexible Response//. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2013. "JFK and Flexible Response." //JFK and Flexible Response//. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2013. "Key Issues: Nuclear Weapons: History: Cold War: Strategy: Flexible Response." //Key Issues: Nuclear Weapons: History: Cold War: Strategy: Flexible Response//. Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2013.
 * Bibliography **