Nuclear Attack Authorization in the Korean War

Delta Force

Banned
I watched the documentary Atomic Cafe a few weeks ago, and one of the sequences shown seems to indicate that a nuclear attack against the DPRK was authorized by Congress and apparently set to occur in a few days if the DPRK did not go to the bargaining table. Obviously McArthur was very much in favor of using nuclear weapons in Korea, but I have not found any information to suggest that such an attack was authorized. Was there ever a nuclear attack authorized to occur during the Korean War against the PRC or DPRK (ready to occur, not just a warplan), and if so what was planned and how was it ultimately prevented?
 
Congerss doesn't authorize nuclear strikes. Only the President, or a successor in the event of an attack and the President can't be contacted, can authorize a nuclear attack. It's been reported that Eisenhower did, through back channels in 1953, threaten nuclear strikes to end the war, and this did get the NKs and Chinese to finally get serious about an armistice. However, nothing unclassified about actual strike planning or strike authorization has come out. Nuclear plans, even old ones, are still very much a high-security issue in the U.S. Government.

There were nuclear-capable aircraft in theater: the AJ-2 Savage was land-based in Korea with the Mark-5 gravity bomb. B-29s on Guam (not Okinawa) were nuclear-certified and weapons were on hand-a B-29 crash near Fairfield, CA on 5 Aug 1950 killed Brig. Gen. Robert F. Travis-which was en route to Guam with said bomb. B-36s or B-47s could have been deployed to either Guam or Okinawa if needed, though, in 1953.
 
I also read somewhere that it was not just to kill civilians. It was supposed to be a strike on the Chinese province (and bridges, etc) where the major Chinese army was concentrated. I am trying to find something on it.

Ivan
 

Delta Force

Banned
Congerss doesn't authorize nuclear strikes. Only the President, or a successor in the event of an attack and the President can't be contacted, can authorize a nuclear attack. It's been reported that Eisenhower did, through back channels in 1953, threaten nuclear strikes to end the war, and this did get the NKs and Chinese to finally get serious about an armistice. However, nothing unclassified about actual strike planning or strike authorization has come out. Nuclear plans, even old ones, are still very much a high-security issue in the U.S. Government.

There were nuclear-capable aircraft in theater: the AJ-2 Savage was land-based in Korea with the Mark-5 gravity bomb. B-29s on Guam (not Okinawa) were nuclear-certified and weapons were on hand-a B-29 crash near Fairfield, CA on 5 Aug 1950 killed Brig. Gen. Robert F. Travis-which was en route to Guam with said bomb. B-36s or B-47s could have been deployed to either Guam or Okinawa if needed, though, in 1953.

I will have to try to find the clip again to view, but I recall it involving members of congress and a nuclear attack planned to take place in a few days. I thought it was kind of odd that Congress would authorize a nuclear attack myself. I know that during some early phases of the Cold War we had a rather loose nuclear policy but could not think of where Congress would get involved.
 
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