The World - News from Dec. 17, 1985

The Joint Chiefs of Staff, in 1955, discussed the possible use of nuclear weapons to help stop a Communist invasion of South Vietnam, according to declassified State Department documents. The U.S. military leaders, in a study commissioned by the National Security Council, said: “No prohibitions should be imposed on the use of atomic weapons, or on other military operations, to the extent of precluding effective military reaction as the situation develops. If atomic weapons were not used, greater forces than the U.S. would be justified in providing would therefore be needed.”