From “Massive Retaliation” to “Limited War”: the U. S. Debates on Nuclear Strategy under the Eisenhower Administration(Liu Lei) In early 1954, with absolute nuclear superiority and the lesson learned from the Korean War, the Eisenhower Administration put forward the strategy of Massive Retaliation which relied on nuclear weapons to contain the expansion of the Soviet bloc. However, with the development of Soviet nuclear power, U. S. absolute nuclear superiority no longer existed. U. S. officials and civilians questioned the strategy of Massive Retaliation. Most of them provided the Limited War as the new option in the debate. Later on, the Kennedy Administration changed the strategy into the strategy of Flexible Response. The great debate played an important role in the transition of the two strategies.