how did USA gain Upper Hand in the competition of stockpiling weapons
Answers
Ever since the USA had dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, the USSR had been determined to develop its own nuclear weapons. It finally succeeded in 1949 and this began a nuclear arms race, with both sides racing to develop more and bigger bombs.
However, it became clear that the superpowers did not intend to use these new weapons hastily. This was demonstrated during the Korean War when President Truman sacked General MacArthur for arguing in favour of using nuclear weapons to end that war.
Nonetheless, a new idea developed: that of nuclear deterrence. This suggested that the very fact of a country possessing nuclear weapons would prevent another country from threatening its interests, because they wouldn’t want to provoke a nuclear attack. In order to maintain this upper hand, the superpowers had to continue to build up their stockpiles of ever more powerful nuclear weapons so that they would have the power to massively retaliate against any such attack.
As the Cold War developed, the theory of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) took shape. This said that the existence of such massive nuclear weapons meant that open war between the superpowers, in which nuclear weapons were used, would end life on earth. This was the ultimate deterrent, and both sides continued to build up their arsenals of nuclear weapons to gain this advantage.
There was pressure on the US government from the armed forces and arms manufacturers to increase military spending throughout the 1950s. As President Eisenhower was coming to the end of his term of office, he warned the American public that too much power lay in the hands of this Military-Industrial Complex. As an army general, he felt able to resist their pressure, but he was concerned that a future civilian president wouldn’t be able to resist their arguments for limitless military spending.
This nuclear arms race was also matched by similar competition over space and the race to the moon.