Presidential Power and Nuclear Arms A History of Presidents, the Button, and the Bomb

This book traces the development of US strategy on nuclear weapons and how presidents from Truman to Biden have wrestled with the question of how best to employ nuclear arms in a dangerous world. Michael Genovese examines how each president tried to solve the problems raised by the possession and spread of nuclear arms. Some presidents were aware of the grave dangers; others imagined that nuclear weapons could be useful battlefield weapons; still others tried to build up the nuclear arsenal while others sought to cut the arsenals. This book also analyzes the role of nuclear weapons and the rise of presidential power. The nuclear age has contributed to the dominance of the American presidency in foreign policy and war. To policy makers and politicians alike, the nuclear threat meant that command and control had to be placed in the hands of a central commander: the President of the United States. It concludes with an examination of the ethical and pragmatic issues regarding nuclear weapons and their use. 

Introduction.- Inventing the Bomb.- Harry Truman and the Birth of the Nuclear Age.- Thinking About the Bomb A Strategy for Nuclear Weapons Use.- Dwight Eisenhower and the Institutionalization of Nuclear Policy.- John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson Facing Crisis in a Nuclear Age.- Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter and Nuclear Parity.- Ronald Reagan and George Bush Belligerents Zero Option and the End of the Cold War.- Clinton Bush Obama Trump and Biden Post Cold War Diffusion.- Conclusion.

Michael A. Genovese is the Loyola Chair of Leadership and serves as the President of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University.  He is the author of over fifty books, including The Paradoxes of the American Presidency, with Thomas Cronin and Meena Bose (2022); The Modern Presidency: Six Debates that Define the Institution (2022); Leadership Matters, with Thomas Cronin (2012); A Presidential Nation: Causes, Consequences, and Cures (2013); and How Trump Governs (2017).