Large sums are spent to gain technological superiority and possess the world's largest nuclear arsenal with the ostensible aim of deterring the enemy from attacking.
The inevitable war with Mexico, foretold by the abolitionists and feared by Henry Clay, ensued, the ostensible cause being a dispute over the boundaries of the new state.
No motive other than the ostensible one could possibly be conjectured by Jim Hayward at this time; and the next morning he started with great pleasure, in his best business suit of clothes.