The Nukes Never Went Away

Russian President Vladimir Putin talks about using nuclear weapons against Ukraine, adding, “This is not a bluff.” President Joe Biden warns Americans of possible Armageddon. Experts discuss the nuances of so-called tactical nuclear weapons.

And news outlets are full of stories that give some version of The threat of nuclear war is back. But they are wrong: The threat never went away. Only the fear did.

In 1984, when I was in my last year of college, I sat down on a railway track near Vancouver, Washington. I was one of dozens of protesters who blocked the track to stop a train that was carrying nuclear warheads to the Trident submarine base in Puget Sound. The shipment’s special armored railcars carrying the warheads were painted white, so it became known as the “.” The Burlington Northern engine locomotive pulling the freight seemed very big as it crept forward at low speed and stopped a few feet from where I sat, looking up at it, on the gravel and ties of the roadbed. Police officers warned us