From somewhere in the dusty corners of my mind, I recall reading an article that referenced some fears that Nixon might (drunkenly?) order nuclear weapons launched. I recall this as being set when he was be investigated over Watergate. The really interesting part is that I recall the idea that some steps were taken to either make him unable to make the order or to have the order ignored. But I cannot even remember if this was something known or just something gossiped about, but without any sort of documentation or proof.
So, I've come here to ask you. Was anyone in a position of authority worried about that and were any steps taken to curtail Nixon's power/authority in that regard?
Nixon never tried to use nuclear weapons. He did talk about them in an offhand way during Watergate, to several Congressmen, when he spoke of picking up the phone and killing millions. But he did that in the context of explaining why he thought Watergate was a waste of his time — a "little break in" shouldn't be bothering a man with that responsibility.
He did drink a lot and there were people who were concerned about his judgment. There is a story that has gone around for a long time saying that Sec Def Schlesinger told the Joint Chiefs of Staff that before processing any nuclear orders, they should check with him first, which is, incidentally, not the nuclear chain of command and probably not legal. There was recently a story published that seemed to confirm Schlesinger's remark and imply there may be a paper trail associated with it — you can be rest assured people are interested in that (I am filing a FOIA, for whatever that is worth). I wrote a bit about the Nixon things in my series of blog posts on the President and the Bomb from the last few months, along with (see the third of the series) a discussion of what documentation we have about the nuclear chain of command.