What Was the Line of Thinking Behind the Creation of Dulles's

What was the line of thinking behind the creation of Dulles's and Eisenhower's strategy of mass retaliation?

A) The United States could not afford more military expenditures like those of the Korean War, so it would use the threat of nuclear warfare to combat the global threat of communism.
B) The United States should continue Truman's containment policy because it was already on a massive enough scale in its efforts to liberate the "captive peoples" of Eastern Europe and China.
C) The United States should counterattack the Soviet Union in response to their detonation of nuclear weapons at the end of the Korean War.
D) The only way for the United States to eradicate communism in the Soviet Union would be to begin a ground war, sending massive numbers of American soldiers overseas.
E) The United States and Soviet Union should join forces in bombarding North Korea because they would then have double the number of soldiers, resources, and weapons.