Grand Expectations: Blackmail?

The Great Expectations piece certainly spoke a lot about Eisenhower and his administration in their supposed "retaliation plan." One part that struck to me as well, childish, was the discussion of using threats of incredible retaliation -even nuclear- to instill fear in nations that acted like aggressors. Clearly, this would have consequences- I mean not only, as stated in the text, could the Soviet Union (as well as other nations) see this as motivation to speed up the production of their nuclear weapons and also place fear within allies, but I mean really? If anything, to me this paints America as almost the "boy who cried wolf," and also speaks to the morality that the nation has. Such a threat could, and should, not be used so casually (*cough* *cough* Mr. Trump *cough* *cough* twitter). It is not something to be "waved" in front of the enemy as blackmail, especially after Hiroshima. The number of lives, many civilian, would be lost and in gruesome fashion. That being said, I wonder if the outcome of today could have been possible without the events of the past. Could today have been achieved with a less violent and bloody past?