From what ive read the missle gap of the early 60s was a falsehood and until the early 70s the USSR didnt achieve parity in ICBMs.

Russia had ICBM technology before America..

Neither one of you guys are even remotely close to answering the question!

1949---the year the USSR exploded its first atomic bomb. I believe that, in the minds of US policy makers at the time, the USSR's potential to detonate just one atomic bomb over an American city was enough of a deterrent.

F22 Is right 1949 is when it was acheved but even if the numbers were not always equal in the 50-60s USSR did have a slight size advantage :) Besides USSR was always searching for alternative methods of delivery such as SLBMs. Wich IMO are far more important then bombers in a nuclear war.

Remember it was bluff for many years-the US thought they had more than the Russians had(because Russians are very good at cloak and dagger and Americans are not). But as the Americans believed the Russians had such that was all that was needed. And anywhere else the conventional detterant was enough. No one wanted to start up "the steamrollar" again.