Preface: U.S. Nuclear Deployment throughout the World
August, 1945: In two days, Japan lost over 150,000 civilians to the only atomic bombs ever used on human beings. Brought to its knees by such a massacre, the Japanese people vow to forever be a nuclear free nation, believing they can thus escape from the suffering and extreme devastation wrecked upon them by atomic warfare.
The United States had other plans.
In July of 1954, with their military occupying the entire nation, the United States begins to secretly stockpile atomic bombs on the Japanese island of Okinawa. The weapons are not planned for use against Japanese cities, but instead the Soviet Union, 600 kilometers (less than 400 miles) away. By December, the U.S. spreads its atomic weapons to the Japanese mainland. In February through September of 1956, the U.S. military deploys more nuclear missiles to the Japanese islands of Chichi Jima (The Regulus submarine launched ballastic missiles (SLBM)) and stockpiles more nuclear bombs on Iwo Jima: expecting that in a nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, the island of Okinawa will be a prime nuclear target. The island bases are to serve as an extremely secret location of "recovery and reload" for U.S. nuclear bombers and submarines, in order to carry out further nuclear attacks on the Soviet Union. The Japanese government and people are completely oblivious to nuclear weapons being stored on their soil.
By August of 1956, the United States deploys its Corporal and Honest John (M31) "tactical" nuclear missiles [intermediate range ballistic missiles — aka IRBMs] to Italy. The missiles are: 1. fully armed and 2. can be launched through a simple two key system (i.e. solely by the operators of the missile battalion in Italy) — both of which are direct violations of the Atomic Energy Act.
By June of 1956, the United States deploys nuclear bombs to the island of Puerto Rico, just 150 miles from Cuba.
Meanwhile, in August of 1957, the Soviet Union successfully tests the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM),
called the R-7 (SS-6 Sapwood by NATO), without any warhead. In October, 1957, the Soviet Union uses the rocket to launch the first human satellite to reach space, called Sputnik. By the end of the year the United States has stockpiled 5,828 nuclear missiles; while the Soviet Union has a total of 650 nuclear missiles.
The U.S. hastily counters Soviet technological advancement by expanding its nuclear empire further: in December of 1957 the Philipeans becomes host to nuclear bombs and depth bombs, while in February, 1958, the "nuclear free country" of Greenland unknowingly becomes another host of U.S. nuclear bombs — still limited to an intermediate range, but capable of hiting the Soviet Union's major Western cities. The U.S. proliferation of it's nuclear missiles around the world continues as Spain becomes the host of U.S. nuclear missiles by March of 1958, and the expansion and installations rapidly move through to France by the end August of 1958. Several months later, in February of 1959, the United States deploys nuclear weapons to Turkey, right on the border of the Soviet Union. All these deployments are constantly lied about to the U.S. public and the United Nations, with every Soviet accusation of U.S. aggression and nuclear proliferation being denounced and turned on its head, until October 20, 1999, 40 years later, when the U.S. finally discloses the truth after decades of mounting evidence.
The deployments continue. By January of 1958, the United States has installed nuclear weapons in the Republic of Korea and Taiwan, with nuclear missiles aimed both at China and the Soviet Union. These missiles are less than 50 kilometers (30 miles) off the coast of mainland China and about 150 kilometers (100 miles) off the coast of the Soviet Union. By this point the Soviet Union is nearly surrounded in all directions by nuclear missiles capable of hitting it's most populated areas, with nuclear missiles as close as the border of the nation.
On October 28, 1959, the United States informs Turkey that it will host 15 Jupiter nuclear missiles (IRBMs) aimed at the Soviet Union, scheduled for installation in June of 1961. The missiles are to be armed with 1.45 megaton warheads: 97 times the power of the atomic bomb detonated over Japan.
On March 4, 1959, the Soviet Union deploys its first R-12 MRBM (SS-4), the missile that would later be sent to Cuba.
In 1960, three years after it had been sent into space, the Soviet Union deploys the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the SS-6, within the borders of the Soviet Union. The range of the Soviet SS-6 ICBM is 3,500 miles, and accordingly they are stationed in northern Russia, targeting the northern United States. The extreme cold causes problems with the weapons however — when they are deployed for service one of the weapons engines explodes due to the extreme cold, killing the chief of the Strategic Rocket Forces. Only four of these missiles are ever deployed in the Soviet Union, the rocket technology later being used entirely for space exploration.