In 1962, the US discovered that the Soviet Union had placed offensive nuclear missiles in Cuba, just off the American shore. President Kennedy ordered a blockade of Russian ships headed to Cuba, which pushed the two countries toward nuclear war. Soviet premier Khrushchev agreed to back down if the US removed its own missiles from Turkey, a short distance from Russia.

Taking an opponent to the brink of disaster is now called “brinkmanship.” People sometimes threaten to go on strike, get a divorce, or shut down an important service; these are acts of brinkmanship.

In Cuba, both the Americans and Soviets had several options. Each could, for example, do nothing, attack the other side’s military—the US bombing the missile sites, the Russians sailing into the naval blockade—or even launch a nuclear attack against the other country. The happy middle point that resolves the crisis was hard to discern.

Brinkmanship is a variety of a strategic move, “a threat, but of a special kind” (207). It must warn of a believable risk, not an implausible certainty, of massive retaliation. The threat can use the “small steps” tactic that escalates the confrontation a little at a time, as needed.