Local defense will always be important. But there is no local defense which alone will contain the mighty land power of the Communist world. Local defense must be reinforced by the further deterrent of massive retaliatory power. [The Administration had made a basic decision] to depend primarily upon a great capacity to retaliate instantly by means and at places of our choosing.
John Foster Dulles, before the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, Jan. 12, 1954.
Since Secretary of State Dulles uttered those words ten weeks ago, a confused discussion about what he meant has spread across the U.S....