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Did anyone ever actually believe that there was a fire-all-ze-missiles button? Even without specific knowledge, a reasonable person must realize that such things have to consist of complicated logistics and multiple levels of redundant failsafes both human and machine.

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>Did anyone ever actually believe that there was a fire-all-ze-missiles button?

Well, a lot of us believed that there were only two possibilities for nuclear war: either no missiles got fired, or they all did -- either in an escalating pattern of strike and counterstrike, or in one big "let's knock them out before they get us" attack.

So I guess a "big red button" is as good a metaphor as any for the sort of on/off, all-or-nothing situation we were afraid of.

A strategy that nuclear strategist Herman Kahn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Kahn) memorably described as a "wargasm."

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