# A list of people who could’ve started a nuclear war, but chose not to

This is a list of everyone who had a big red button but did not press it, despite a unilateral ability to destroy (at least some of) the world with nuclear weapons.

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G6eSD1Ub0AE2tto?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)

*(Please comment with suggestions for additions: I’m sure I missed some people.)*

**Dwight D. Eisenhower** was a U.S. President with the authority to launch nuclear weapons. He considered the use of nuclear weapons and made implicit threats during the 1954 Quemoy-Matsu crisis (against China) and when France asked for U.S. intervention in Vietnam. Eisenhower decided to not use nuclear weapons. While publicly, he declared that in the event of war in East Asia, he would authorize the use of tactical nuclear weapons against military targets “exactly as you would use a bullet”, in private, he decided that nuclear weapons were “too destructive to use in a limited conflict”, and refused requests from the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff to use nuclear weapons against Chinese targets. Despite the unilateral ability to launch nuclear weapons at any point from 1953 to 1961, he did not.

**John F. Kennedy** was a U.S. President with the authority to launch nuclear weapons, including during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. Despite the unilateral ability to launch nuclear weapons at any point from 1961 to 1963, he did not.

**Vasily Arkhipov**, a captain of the Soviet Navy, was on board of a Soviet submarine on October 27, 1962, when U.S. Navy forces tried to force the submarine to surface using signalling depth charges. Communications to Moscow were cut off, and the depth charges led the captain and political officer to believe a war might have already begun. They prepared to launch a nuclear torpedo. On most Soviet submarines with nuclear torpedoes, authorizations only from the captain and political officer were required to authorize the launch. However, on this particular submarine, due to the presence of Arkhipov, the chief of staff of the brigade, his authorization was also required. The captain and the political officer wanted to launch, but Arkhipov opposed. He could’ve issued the authorization others wanted from him, and a launch of a nuclear weapon against the U.S. Navy during the Cuban Missile Crisis would’ve likely started a nuclear war. He didn’t.

**Lyndon B. Johnson** was a U.S. President with the authority to launch nuclear weapons. Despite the unilateral ability to launch nuclear weapons at any point from 1963 to 1969, he did not.

**Richard Nixon** was a U.S. President with the authority to launch nuclear weapons. Despite the unilateral ability to launch nuclear weapons at any point from 1969 to 1974, he did not.

**Gerard Ford** was a U.S. President with the authority to launch nuclear weapons. Despite the unilateral ability to launch nuclear weapons at any point from 1974 to 1977, he did not.

(**Golda Meir** was the Israeli Prime Minister during the Yom Kippur War in October 1973. It is reported that when the Israeli officials panicked that the Arab invasion would overrun Israel, the Defence Minister **Moshe Dayan** requested and received authorization from her to arm 13 missiles and 8 fighter jets with nuclear warheads, with the missiles aimed at the military headquarters in Cairo and Damascus. It is unclear whether anyone in Israel had at any point a unilateral authority to order the launch during these events. Supposedly, normally, Israeli nuclear weapons are under civilian control until assembled; it is unclear what happens afterwards.)

**Jimmy Carter** was a U.S. President with the authority to launch nuclear weapons. Despite the unilateral ability to launch nuclear weapons at any point from 1977 to 1981, he did not.

**Pieter Willem Botha** was the Prime Minister and State President of South Africa when it developed nuclear weapons, with the authority to launch nuclear weapons. Despite the unilateral ability to launch nuclear weapons, he did not. (It must be noted, however, that he made South Africa have these weapons in the first place.)

**Ronald Reagan** was a U.S. President with the authority to launch nuclear weapons. Despite the unilateral ability to launch nuclear weapons at any point from 1981 to 1989, he did not.

**Frederik Willem de Klerk** was the State President of South Africa, with the authority to launch nuclear weapons. He inherited six operational weapons and decided on nuclear disarmament. Despite the unilateral ability to launch nuclear weapons, he did not. South Africa is the only country that developed nuclear weapons and then gave them up.

**Stanislav Petrov**, a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces, was on duty on September 26, 1983, when an early warning system falsely reported multiple U.S. missile launches. He violated the protocol, deciding to not report the warning up the chain, which could’ve led to a full Soviet nuclear retaliation. He decided that a real first strike would involve more missiles than he’s seen and judged it to be a false alarm.

**George H.W. Bush** was a U.S. President with the authority to launch nuclear weapons. Despite the unilateral ability to launch nuclear weapons at any point from 1989 to 1993, he did not.

**(Boris Yeltsin** was the President of Russia in 1995, when he was notified that a radar detected what looked like a U.S. missile launched from the sea, possibly the start of an American nuclear strike. The nuclear briefcase was activated for him, but he did not push the button he had. The rocket turned out to be a Norwegian scientific rocket; Norway even notified Russia, but the notification didn’t reach the radar crew. (Soviet and Russian secretaries general and presidents generally do not have the unilateral authority to launch, so others are not on this list. It is not entirely clear whether, in this case, Boris Yeltsin could’ve launched nukes if he wanted to.)

**Kim Jong Il** was the General Secretary of North Korea when it developed nuclear weapons, with the authority to launch nuclear weapons. Despite the unilateral ability to launch nuclear weapons from 2006 to 2011, he did not. (It must be noted, however, that he made North Korea have these weapons in the first place.)

**Bill Clinton** (1993-2001), **George W. Bush** (2001-2009), **Barack Obama** (2009-2017), and **Joe Biden** (2021-2025) were U.S. Presidents with the authority to launch nuclear weapons. Despite the unilateral ability to launch nuclear weapons, they did not.

(While technically the Prime Ministers of the UK have had the authority to launch nuclear weapons, if officials of the Ministry of Defence who receive a launch order judge it to be wrongful, they can lawfully appeal to the monarch to overturn it, which is somewhat likely to happen for a first-strike decision; for that reason, I’m not counting them as having had the unilateral ability to launch nuclear weapons.)

**Charles de Gaulle** (1960-1969), **Georges Pompidou** (1969-1974), **Valéry Giscard d’Estaing** (1974-1981), **François Mitterrand** (1981-1995), **Jacques Chirac** (1995-2007), **Nicolas Sarkozy** (2007-2012), and **François Hollande** (2012-2017) were the Presidents of France with the authority to launch nuclear weapons. Despite the unilateral ability to launch nuclear weapons at any point while in office, they did not.

(There were many close calls, but I wasn’t able to find individual people who could’ve decided to end the world during those: on October 5, 1960, a radar in Greenland mistook the rising Moon for a massive Soviet missile attack; the alert showed certainty of incoming nukes, but a bomber patrol confirmed it was a false echo. In 1979, a NORAD computer simulation tape was accidentally run as if it were real data, causing command centers to believe 250 to 2200 missiles were on their way, and the National Security Advisor was alerted that the U.S. President had minutes to decide on retaliation; satellite and radar checks confirmed it was a false alarm. See [many others](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_close_calls).)

**(William Bassett**, a captain of the U.S. Air Force commanding a launch crew at a missile site in Japan, is claimed to have received what appeared to be valid orders to launch 32 nuclear missiles on October 28, 1962, but [the account of the events is disputed](https://www.stripes.com/special-reports/featured/cold-war-missileers-refute-okinawa-near-launch-1.385439). He is claimed to have judged the situation to be suspicious and stalled the launch until the Missile Control Center confirmed it was an error.)

8 billion people are alive today. Let’s not let this number suddenly drop.