An Analysis of the Cold War Mentality.

The article analyzes the cold war mentality. The interesting point is that both the United States and Soviet Union have been making tentative unilateral gestures over the past few years. These gestures have been largely abortive because they were not graduated and continued as part of a consistent, carefully thought-out policy, rather they were used more as ammunition in the cold war; they were not publicly announced in advance of their commission; the possible forms of reciprocation were not spelled out. Graduated reciprocation in tension-reduction seeks its justification in social science considerations. It assumes that if carefully graduated unilateral actions were maintained over a sufficient period, pressures of public opinion both internal and external would force reciprocation.