The Button: The New Nuclear Arms Race and Presidential Power from Truman to Trump

Perry (My Journey at the Nuclear Brink), who served as secretary of defense under Bill Clinton, and global security analyst Collina expose the lack of checks and balances to prevent U.S. presidents from triggering nuclear war in this well-documented call for reform. Cataloguing seven decades of domestic policy developments and international power struggles over nuclear arms, including General MacArthur’s tug-of-war with President Truman over nuclear authorization during the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the 1980s Strategic Defense Initiative (commonly known as Star Wars), Perry and Collina argue that presidential monopoly on “the button” has reached a new level of danger under President Trump, whom they regard as a uniquely unstable leader. Their policy suggestions include an end to sole presidential nuclear authority, a prohibition on the first use of nuclear weapons by the U.S., and sustained diplomatic engagement with Iran and North Korea. Perry’s insider perspective on disarmament negotiations between the U.S. and Russia and the vulnerability of the U.S. arsenal to cyberattacks illuminates, but generalists will find themselves overwhelmed with policy minutiae. Still, this authoritative account reveals the true extent of the nuclear threat. (June)