"children like you"?
The fictional story was just another example of the myriad liberal attacks on anti-communists -- the book / movie aside, liberals, et al felt that we had to be nice to the U.S.S.R. lest we play into the hands of Soviet hard-liners, there would be war and it would be our fault.
As for the story line.. yes, I would have been against what the fictional president did and instead have him confront the Soviets with their half of MAD.
Personally I did not believe the Soviets had the capabilities to respond in kind. That is why the so called "Cuban missile crisis" did not worry me one whit.
After the cold war ended we finally found out that our government was lying and the Soviets were about as militarily powerful as a de-clawed kitten. But hey, it’s OK if the government lies to us so long as the military-industrial complex gets their paychecks right?