Presidential Emergency Satchel

Unknown artist

The official name of this attaché case is the Presidential Emergency Satchel. First used during the Eisenhower administration, such cases are better known as the nuclear football, a name attached to them under John Kennedy. These leather cases have become a symbol of military power and presidential responsibility and authority. Carried by a military officer who is never far from the president, the specific contents of each case are closely guarded secrets but include documents that confirm the president’s identity and relate to operational plans for engaging in nuclear war. They have come to represent the United States’ ongoing ability to consider the use of nuclear weapons. This particular football, one of several that have played this role, was used during the Clinton administration but speaks to the nuclear tensions of the broader Cold War and post-Cold War world.