Albert Wohlstetter, (1913-1997) American influential and controversial nuclear strategist during the Cold War, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Ronald Reagan Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page [1-3] of 3 Albert Wohlstetter quotesAlbert Wohlstetter QuotesAlbert Wohlstetter Almost everyone seems concerned with the need to relax tension. However, relaxation of tension, which everyone thinks is good, is not easily distinguished from relaxing one's guard, which almost everyone thinks is bad. Relaxation, like Miltown, is not an end in itself. Not all danger comes from tension. The reverse relation, to be tense where there is danger, is only rational.~ Albert Wohlstetter We must contemplate some extremely unpleasant possibilities, just because we want to avoid them and achieve something better. Nobody, however, likes to think about anything unpleasant, even to avoid it. And so the crucial problem of thermonuclear war is frequently dispatched with the label 'War is unthinkable' -- which, translated freely, means we don't want to think about it.~ Albert Wohlstetter I must confess that the picture of the world that I have presented is unpleasant... If the picture of the world I have drawn is rather bleak, it could nonetheless be cataclysmically worse.~ Albert Wohlstetter Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print