Question

Which of the following was a justification for the increase in US defense spending during the Cold War?
The US needed to develop more and better weapons to prevent an attack.
The US wanted to purchase large amounts of land to conduct nuclear tests.
The US planned to launch an attack against the Soviet Union on Russian soil.
The US wanted to become the world’s first example of a superpower.

Answer 1

The first option.
A primary justification was that the US needed to develop more and better weapons to deter or repel a Soviet attack — i.e., the arms race and deterrence/containment strategy during the Cold War. The other choices were not reasons for the broad increase in defense spending.