Herman Kahn Quotes

• World War I broke out largely because of an arms race, and World War II because of the lack of an arms race.

  Herman Kahn

• To the extent that these advanced weapons or their components are treated as articles of commerce, perhaps for peaceful uses as in the Plowshare program, their cost would be well within the resources available to many large private organizations.

  Herman Kahn

• There was no race – but to the extent that there was an arms competition, it was almost entirely on the Soviet side, first to catch up and then to surpass the Americans.

  Herman Kahn

• The widespread diffusion of nuclear weapons would make many nations able, and in some cases also create the pressure, to aggravate an on-going crisis, or even touch off a war between two other powers for purposes of their own.

  Herman Kahn

• The objective of nuclear-weapons policy should not be solely to decrease the number of weapons in the world, but to make the world safer – which is not necessarily the same thing.

  Herman Kahn

• Projecting a persuasive image of a desirable and practical future is extremely important to high morale, to dynamism, to consensus, and in general to help the wheels of society turn smoothly.

  Herman Kahn

• Only those who are ideologically opposed to military programs think of the defense budget as the first and best place to get resources for social welfare needs.

  Herman Kahn

• Nuclear weapons are intrinsically neither moral nor immoral, though they are more prone to immoral use than most weapons.

  Herman Kahn

• Nuclear war is such an emotional subject that many people see the weapons themselves as the common enemy of humanity.

  Herman Kahn

• New developments in weapon systems during the 1950s and early 1960s created a situation that was most dangerous, and even conducive to accidental war.

  Herman Kahn

•  

  My guess is that nuclear weapons will be used sometime in the next hundred years, but that their use is much more likely to be small and limited than widespread and unconstrained.

   

  Herman Kahn

• Many people believe that the current system must inevitably end in total annihilation. They reject, sometimes very emotionally, any attempts to analyze this notion.

  Herman Kahn

• It is immoral from almost any point of view to refuse to defend yourself and others from very grave and terrible threats, even as there are limits to the means that can be used in such defense.

  Herman Kahn

• In a world which is armed to its teeth with nuclear weapons, every quarrel or difference of opinion may lead to violence of a kind quite different from what is possible today.

  Herman Kahn

• In 1960 I published a book that attempted to direct attention to the possibility of a thermonuclear war, to ways of reducing the likelihood of such a war, and to methods for coping with the consequences should war occur despite our efforts to avoid it.

  Herman Kahn

• I’m against sloppy, emotional thinking.

  Herman Kahn

• I’m against ignorance.

  Herman Kahn

• I’m against fashionable thinking.

  Herman Kahn

• I am against the whole cliche of the moment.

  Herman Kahn

• Human and moral factors must always be considered. They must never be missing from policies and from public discussion.

  Herman Kahn

Herman Kahn (31)

Birth:	15th February, 1922
Death:	7th July, 1983
Nationality:	American
Profession:	Strategist, Theorist

About

Herman Kahn was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, USA. He was a founder of the Hudson Institute. He originally came to prominence as a military strategist and systems theorist while employed at the RAND Corporation. He became known for analyzing the likely consequences of nuclear war and recommending ways to improve survivability, making him one of three historical inspirations for the title character of Stanley Kubrick's classic black comedy film satire Dr. Strangelove. He earned his BS degree at University of California, Los Angeles and embarked on a doctorate at California Institute of Technology.

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