In another striking lapse of memory, the most senior American leaders began once again to talk almost casually in public as well as in secret meetings of the possible use of nuclear weapons in the Quemoy crisis. Air force general Nathan Twining, the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, reported to the National Security Council that seven- to ten-kiloton airburst bombs would clear away the offending Communist cannon. The United States rushed to Quemoy nuclear-capable eigth-inch howitzers, presumably to be controlled by Americans. And Soong Mayling, who had gone back to America in May 1958, told Meet the Press that people on the mainland were asking why Taiwan did not use nuclear weapons against the Communist regime.