by Martin Armstrong
Armstrong Economics
The President of the United States has the sole discretion to launch nuclear missiles. A military aide is always within reach of the POTUS, holding the “Presidential Emergency Satchel” or “nuclear football” containing the codes and communications to decimate nations with a moment’s notice. The only key required to open the box of death is a laminated card called the “biscuit” that authenticates the president’s identity using special codes. What would it take for someone to press the button?
President Harry S. Truman was the first and only president to attack a foreign enemy with nuclear weapons. In August 1945, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the first cities in the history of civilization to experience a nuclear attack. At the time, no one knew the sheer power that these weapons contained.
Albert Einstein described his role in developing the atomic bomb as “the one great mistake in my life.” In his well-known 1939 letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he admitted that he helped develop the bomb out of fear that the enemy had a superior weapon.