Well, it's a long title, but I was wondering what some of our more learned members have to think about this.
With the advent of the US Tomahawks in the 1980's, people started talking about how NATO could seriously degrade the Warsaw Pacts theater and strategic nuclear capabilities using conventional weapons; the Soviets would probably have started getting antsy if Backfire bases and SS-20's (I think?) started getting plowed over by NATO conventional weapons.
The mid- to late-1970's are considered by many to be the nadir for NATO in terms of its ability to hold off a conventional assault by the Warsaw Pact. It seemed likely that NATO would have to resort to a nuclear shot across the Army Group if/when things got out of hand, with resulting nastiness.
Would it have been possible for the Soviets and their Allies to obliterate NATO's European theater nuclear systems by conventional means quickly at the opening of a war in the mid- late-1970's? If such a thing did occur, would a Ford- or Carter-led West opt for Armageddon, or...what?
I have a sneaky suspicion that the answer is going to be something along the lines of, "There's no way the Warsaw pact is going to smash every Pershing, Western European airfield, and carrier group, and if it looks like they might, the gloves will come off," but I'm curious all the same.