Bernard Brodie

Brodie, Bernard, 1910–78, American military strategist, b. Chicago. Brodie edited The Absolute Weapon (1946), the first book on nuclear strategy, and was a strategic theorist at the Rand Corporation (1951–66). Although his early work was on naval history, he later concentrated on the significance of airpower in the nuclear age. He advocated a policy of deterrence (see nuclear strategy). His writings include A Guide to Naval Strategy (1942), Strategy in the Missile Age (1959), Escalation and the Nuclear Option (1966), and War and Politics (1973).

See biography by B. Steiner (1991).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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