American Military History, Volume 2 by Richard W. Stewart

With the end of hostilities, the Eisenhower administration had to provide for the nation's defense by determining a strategy for the future and by configuring military forces to carry it out. Torn be- tween pressures from worldwide commitments and a desire to cut back on defense spending, the administration devised a policy that laid major emphasis upon air power and America's nuclear superiority. "The basic decision," Secretary of State John Foster Dulles observed, "was to depend primarily upon a great capacity to retaliate, instantly, by means and at places of our choosing." This would allow the De- partment of Defense to mold the armed forces into a shape that best suited official policy without having to prepare for every threat the Communists might pose.

With the new emphasis on massive retaliation, the armed forces took on a New Look as the 1950s progressed. The Air Force increased the size of its strategic bombing forces, spending huge sums on new bombers and missiles. The Navy concentrated on developing a new submarine-launched nuclear missile known as the Polaris, and the Army sought to perfect tactical nuclear weapons to support the soldier on the battlefield. Since the military budget divided along service rather than functional lines, the annual allocation of funds almost inevitably provoked bitter infighting.