general thomas power had the power to launch nuclear weapons in the us during the cuban missile crisis.
which general has the power to launch nuclear weapons in the us during the cuban missile crisis?
general thomas power
starting with president eisenhower, authority to launch a full scale nuclear attack has been delegated to theater commanders and other specific commanders if they believe it is warranted by circumstances, and are out of communication with the president or the president had been incapacitated. for example, during the cuban missile crisis, on october 24, 1962, general thomas power, commander of the strategic air command (sac), took the country to defcon 2, the very precipice of full-scale nuclear war, launching the sac bombers of the us with nuclear weapons ready to strike. moreover, some of these commanders subdelegated to lower commanders the authority to launch nuclear weapons under similar circumstance. in fact, the nuclear weapons were not placed under locks until decades later, so pilots or individual submarine commanders had the power, but not the authority, to launch nuclear weapons entirely on their own.
nuclear weapons of the united states
bullet::::- dallek, robert. "if we listen to them, none of us will be alive." in "camelot's court", 279–334. new york: harpercollins, 2013.





























section::::external links.





























bullet::::- "cuban missile crisis", 2012, harvard kennedy school, belfer center's 50th anniversary of the crisis – commemorative website





























bullet::::- cuban missile crisis and the fallout from the dean peter krogh foreign affairs digital archives





























bullet::::- cuban missile crisis, 1962





























bullet::::- october 1962: defcon 4, defcon 3





























bullet::::- spartacus educational(uk): "cuban missile crisis"





























bullet::::- document – "britain's cuban missile crisis"





























bullet::::- no time to talk: the cuban missile crisis
cuban missile crisis