Hegemony and culture in the origins of NATO nuclear first-use, 1945-1955

"In this book Johnston argues that the preemptive first use of nuclear weapons, long the foundation of American nuclear strategy, was not the carefully reasoned response to a growing Soviet conventional threat. Instead, it was part of a process of cultural "socialization," by which the United States reconstituted the previously nationalist strategic cultures of the European allies into a seamless western community directed by Washington."--Jacket.