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Kennedy sent a letter to Khrushchev discussing the situation. Read the quotation and then answer the question.

Kennedy implies that starting a nuclear war would be insane. Why?

Nuclear weapons don’t always work.

War is inherently insane to begin with.

Even the aggressor would be destroyed.
I have not assumed that you or any other sane man would, in this nuclear age, deliberately plunge the world into war which … could only result in catastrophic consequences to the whole world, including the aggressor.

–President John F. Kennedy
Letter to Nikita Khrushchev
October 22, 1962

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Even the aggressor would be destroyed.

Kennedy explicitly says a nuclear war "could only result in catastrophic consequences to the whole world, including the aggressor," implying mutual destruction (the logic of deterrence/MAD).