Writing for the Boston Globe today in 1952, science writer Michael Amrine shared the news that the hydrogen bomb—successfully tested for the first time on November 1 but not yet deployed—would allow the United States to conduct mass slaughter at the low low cost of $1 per person. 
Amrine's column echoed comments made in a September 18, 1951, speech by Sen. Brien McMahon (D-Connecticut), chairman of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, noting the “startling fact” that using atomic bombs to deter and fight wars would be “hundreds of times cheaper than TNT.”
This was because one atomic bomb could destroy more “enemy war plants” than a single TNT bomb. McMahon then declared: “If we mass-produce this weapon, as we can, I solemnly say to the Senate that the cost of a single atomic bomb will become less than the cost of a single tank.”
Making A-bombs the “real backbone” of US military power by fully nuclearizing the army, navy, and air force “ought to mean fewer men under arms… [and] a major reduction in the tens of billions of dollars we would otherwise spend upon stacks and stacks of conventional armaments.”
Such savings were never realized, because nuclear weapons were very expensive to manufacture and maintain and actually required more manpower than conventional ones, and because during the Cold War the United States engaged in a nuclear arms race _and_ a conventional arms race.
Nevertheless, under these faulty assumptions, the US launched a rapid and massive nuclear buildup during the 1950s. At the time of McMahon's speech, the United States possessed 438 atomic bombs. Within ten years, the stockpile had increased to 22,229 atomic and hydrogen weapons.
A grateful tip of the hat to @wellerstein for the original clip.
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