they were gonna get it eventually. if nixon had been in the big seat in 1960 (he very very nearly was) he would have instigated the war in cuba and then slapped that goddam button. and we would have nuked and destroyed the ussr before mad became reality. we would have sustained significant but easily manageable losses and would have entered the 21st century as the unchallenged and unilateral hegemons over the entire world and at least until some new destructive technology came along. in 1963 the ussr's nuclear capacity was not even comparable to the us. in a mere decade that changed immensely.
United States