Strategic Air Command Declassifies Nuclear Target List from 1950s

Strategic Air Command Declassifies Nuclear Target List from 1950s

U.S. Cold War Nuclear Target Lists Declassified for First Time

According to 1956 Plan, H-Bombs were to be Used Against Priority
“Air Power” Targets in the Soviet Union, China, and Eastern Europe

Major Cities in Soviet Bloc, Including East Berlin, Were High Priorities in “Systematic Destruction” for Atomic Bombings

Plans to Target People (“Population”) Violated International Legal Norms

SAC Wanted a 60 Megaton Bomb, Equivalent to over 4,000 Hiroshima Atomic Weapons

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 538

Edited by William Burr

 

General Curtis LeMay was Commander-in-chief of the
Strategic Air Command when the SAC Atomic Weapons Requirements Study for
1959 was prepared.
[Photo source: U.S. National Archives, Still Pictures Division, RG 342B, Box 507 B&W]