Cold War. The United States believed it was catching up with the Soviet Union in terms of nuclear weapons. It amassed 2,280 thermonuclear weapons, twenty times the Soviets’. But this information would only become evident with the Corona spy satellite program from 1960 onwards. Until then, the Americans did not realize that the USSR was still recovering from the devastation of World War II. Meanwhile, the US, with bases in Greenland, Alaska, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Turkey, Morocco, Germany, and Italy, and a 20-to-1 advantage, could strike whenever and wherever it wanted. As late as 1964, the American advantage remained 6-to-1.
