"Pussied out in Cuban Missile Crisis, giving Krushchev our missiles in Turkey and Italy in return for dismantling Russia's in Cuba."
You really think we could've won that one without concessions, and/or going nuclear? What's in it for the Soviets?
"You really think we could've won that one without concessions, and/or going nuclear?"
Yes.
"What's in it for the Soviets?"
Survival. Thanks mainly to the CIA, we consistently overestimated Soviet capabilities throughout Cold War I. The Soviets knew, though, that their missiles were inaccurate and their warheads iffy.
They probably would have been able to inflict some damage on us, but they would have ceased to exist...and they knew it.