Re: von Neumann and preemptive war, I just want to note that:
Von Neumann never advocated for preemptive war against the USSR in any public writing. (As far as I can tell.)
I know of no private writing in which he advocated for it, either.
The only publicly available sources (that I know of) for von Neumann’s opinion about preemptive war are:
A short, uncited quote in his obituary.
A single line from his wife’s diary.
His daughter’s autobiography, which cites the obituary.
If you or anyone has more evidence about von Neumann’s ideas about preemptive war with the USSR, I would love to know about it!
To be fair, I think the fact that both his wife and daughter thought he was in favor of preemptive war is pretty strong evidence that he was talking about it in private conversations.
Re: von Neumann and preemptive war, I just want to note that:
Von Neumann never advocated for preemptive war against the USSR in any public writing. (As far as I can tell.)
I know of no private writing in which he advocated for it, either.
The only publicly available sources (that I know of) for von Neumann’s opinion about preemptive war are:
A short, uncited quote in his obituary.
A single line from his wife’s diary.
His daughter’s autobiography, which cites the obituary.
If you or anyone has more evidence about von Neumann’s ideas about preemptive war with the USSR, I would love to know about it!
To be fair, I think the fact that both his wife and daughter thought he was in favor of preemptive war is pretty strong evidence that he was talking about it in private conversations.