Those of us that had vision of the full picture knew that nuclear war was nobody’s goal, and would profit no one, while using it as a means of building a political power base was quite rewarding, thus saw that there was no probable threat.
You of the left slope of the curve must live tormented lives.
Just because it wasn’t anybody’s goal doesn’t mean we never got close. Sometimes world leaders screw up, especially when they’re kind of loopy like Khrushchev, or just plane dumb like Kennedy; there’s a handful of times during the Cold War that with one less smart guy in one room the jig is up. Or maybe they weren’t so smart, game theory of the Cold War was always the same, because you couldn’t trust the other side not to and the side that launched first was the only one with even a slight chance of survival game theory said the only smart move was to launch immediately and completely. So maybe dumber heads prevailed.
I never worried because there was nothing I could do about it, especially living in Tucson a high value target, there was no nuclear war survival plan here, we assumed we’d be hit hard if it happened. All doom drumbeats get put into one of two categories for me: credible but nothing I can do about it, not credible so who cares. Subsequently I’ve never worried because there’s no point to it. Other people worry though, it’s a popular thing. It’s why the Carson’s and the Ehrlich’s of the world make the fat cash being wrong every time they open their mouths. We’ve got a lot of preppers on this thread, and this site. Not me, I don’t worry. It’s a 50 year drumbeat, not everybody dances to it, but everybody hears it, whether you’re willing to admit it or not. Most of folks get bored of it, even if they believe it they grow weary, which is why preppers are a minority.