Most Americans think the U.S. has used atomic bombs only twice (on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945).
Actually, the U.S. has PERSISTENTLY used them as an ongoing threat — and has ACTUALLY SPECIFICALLY THREATENED NUCLEAR ATTACK on 30 occasions from 1946 to 2006. (I don’t know how many times since then, but we all remember a few of Trump’s explicit threats.)
During times of international crisis the President goes on TV and tells the nation and the world that “ALL OPTIONS ARE ON THE TABLE.” This is the euphemism for threatening to destroy the other nation that the U.S. president is angry toward. In “diplomatic” channels the U.S. has threatened attacks many times.
Yesterday I read an article about this from a very reliable publication that reported the U.S. presidents have threatened to use nuclear weapons THIRTY TIMES from 1946 to 2006.
I also read that Art Laffin and Nick Mele also wrote about this in a publication that I have not read. It is in a recent edition of “The Risk of the Cross: Living Gospel Nonviolence in the Nuclear Age.” This sounds interesting. I want to read it. But even before I read that resource, I want to share this fact with you.
The U.S.”uses” our nuclear weapons PERSISTENTLY AND CONTINUOUSLY, even if we don’t actually launch them. The ONGOING THREAT is a “use,” even without launching them. An analogy is that if an armed robber holds you up at gunpoint and takes your wallet, that person would be prosecuted for “Armed Robbery” even if that person does not pull the trigger.