Growth of the Arms Race.

Scientists in the United States created the world's first atomic bombs in 1945. In 1949 the Soviet Union built its own atomic bomb, and the arms race was on. In the 1950s and 1960s airplanes were the method of choice for delivering nuclear warheads to their destinations, and President Eisenhower developed an anti-aircraft defense system to guard against Soviet bombers. In the 1960s, with the introduction of the technology of rocketry, the preferred delivery system became the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The development of ICBMs led the United States, during President Nixon's administration, to develop and deploy antiballistic missiles (ABMs) that could shoot down incoming enemy missiles. The development of ABMs led both sides to search for further means of delivering their bombs to their targets, and multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) were developed in the 1970s. MIRVs, consisting of...