advisors. There was no way in which we could match Russia gun for gun, tank for tank, at anytime, in any place. John's brother Allen Dulles, CIA director under Eisenhower, said, "To do so would mean real strength nowhere and bankruptcy everywhere". Instead, the U.S. response to Soviet aggressions would be made on our terms. J.F. Dulles' solution was typical strategic asymmetry, but of a particular kind. In retrospect the most startling deficiency of the Eisenhower administration's strategy was its bland self-confidence that it could use nuclear weapons without starting an all out nuclear war. Limited nuclear conflict was possible, as Kissenger argued in Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy, "But only if those participating in it had agreed beforehand on the boundaries beyond which it would not extend. This was clearly impossible with the Soviets, making Eisenhower's policy foolhardy and naive. Strategic asymmetry, supplemented by nuclear superiority, would not last long after Eisenhower. Instead, it was replaced with Kennedy's "flexible response." The critics of "The New Look" and past nuclear diplomacy pointed out that only newfound symmetry allows us enough political flexibility to respond to Russian aggression in whatever way suits U.S. interests at the time. Kennedy, possessing an economic rationale for disregarding costs, placed his emphasis on minimizing risks by giving the U.S. sufficient flexibility to respond to Russia with neither escalation or humiliation. This required a capacity to act on all levels, ranging from diplomacy through covert action, guerilla operations, conventional and nuclear war. Equally important, though, it would require careful control. Walt W. Rostow, Kennen's replacement as Chairman of The Policy Planning Council, was chosen as usual on behalf of the Kennedy administration to spell out the problems the new flexible response policy would solve, It should be noted that we have generally been at a disadva...
