Word: triggering
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...Scared. But not even such generally expressed opinions answer the basic question. If Lyndon is less than beloved, then why is he running so far ahead of Goldwater? The answer is easy: Goldwater's public image is that of a man with an itchy finger on the nuclear trigger, while Johnson has managed to portray himself as the responsible, restrained keeper of nuclear peace...
...Whose Trigger Finger? What are the facts? Within the context of this year's politics, Goldwater first got himself into nuclear trouble in October of 1963 when, at a Hartford, Conn., press conference, and in his ordinary, offhand fashion, he suggested that NATO "field commanders" (plural) be given greater discretion. about when to use tactical nuclear weapons in the event of attack...
...political critics, both Democratic and Republican, have leaped into the argument. Before the Republican Convention in San Francisco, Pennsylvania's Governor William Scranton, then running for the G.O.P. presidential nomination himself, asked: "What does it mean to be a conservative? Does it mean you must be a trigger-happy dreamer in a world that wants from America not slogans but sane leadership?" Again, Scranton said of Goldwater: "He says the decision to unleash nuclear war should be made not by the President but by the commanders in the field...
Barry also went out of his way to allay fears that his itchy trigger finger might set off nuclear war. "A major concern of ours," he said, "has been the military security of this nation. Some distort this proper concern to make it appear that we are preoccupied with war. There is no greater political lie. We are preoccupied with peace. We seek a strong America because only a strong nation can keep the peace. I do not intend to be a wartime President...
Making Waves. Earlier in the week, even while on land, Barry made waves. Before the national convention of Veterans of Foreign Wars in Cleveland, he ignored Democratic charges that he is trigger-happy, said again that NATO's Supreme Commander should have greater control over what Barry has now begun to call "conventional nuclear weapons." Said Goldwater to the veterans: "Let me stress that these small conventional nuclear weapons are no more powerful than the firepower you have faced on the battlefield. They simply come in a smaller package." Barry's argument was directly disputed two days later...