Churchill ‘considered nuclear attack' on the USSR

The statesman was prepared to deploy extreme measures against the forces of communism, new research reveals.

- MATT ELTON

Winston Churchill contemplated deploying a nuclear attack against Soviet cities in 1951, according to the author of a new study.

A cache of New York Times Company documents, uncovered by University of Exeter historian Richard Toye, detail meetings held between the British politician and US newspaper executives throughout the 1940s and 50s. In April 1951, Churchill – who was then out of office, but had hopes of returning to government – met with New York Times general manager Julius Ochs Adler. In a lengthy conversation, he repeatedly returned to the subject of his plans should he be re-elected as prime minister.