Did America Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb? An
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Did America learn to stop worrying and love the bomb? An examination of the American publics response to nuclear war in newspapers and popular culture, from the Cuban Missile Crisis to The Day After Rory McGlynn [email protected] Erasmus School of History, Communications and Culture First Reader: Dr Martijn Lak Second Reader: Professor Ferry de Goey Rory McGlynn – Did America Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb? 1 Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank Dr. Martijn Lak for his support and advice throughout the year, it has been very helpful. Secondly, I would like to thank my fellow members of the research workshop War and Peace, for their helpful advice throughout the process. And lastly, I would like to thank my family for their advice and support with proof reading among other things. And also thank you to the Goats for absolutely nothing. Rory McGlynn – Did America Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb? 2 Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................. 3 Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 4 Nature of Sources ................................................................................................................. 6 Structure of the Thesis ......................................................................................................... 8 Literature Report ......................................................................................................... 9 Broad look at the Historiography of Public Perceptions to Nuclear War ...................... 9 Historiography of Specific Events .................................................................................... 12 The Cuban Missile Crisis ................................................................................................. 12 Détente ............................................................................................................................. 14 The Day After and the Early Nineteen-Eighties ............................................................... 15 Gaps in Historiography ..................................................................................................... 18 Conclusions Regarding the Historiographical Debate .................................................... 19 Chapter 1 – On the Brink: The Cuban Missile Crisis and the 1960s .................... 20 Newspapers Before the Crisis ........................................................................................... 21 Newspapers During and in the Aftermath of the Crisis ................................................. 24 Newspapers in the Years Following the Crisis ................................................................ 28 Public Opinion Comparison .............................................................................................. 30 Popular Culture .................................................................................................................. 32 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 36 Chapter 2: The Rise and Fall of Détente: The 1970s .............................................. 38 Newspapers ......................................................................................................................... 39 1973 Washington Summit ............................................................................................... 39 1975 Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe ............................................. 42 1979 SALT II Summit, Vienna ........................................................................................ 45 Public Opinion Comparison .............................................................................................. 48 Popular Culture .................................................................................................................. 49 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 54 Chapter 3: Turning Point? The Day After and the 1980s ...................................... 56 Newspapers Before The Day After .................................................................................... 57 Newspapers on The Day After ........................................................................................... 60 Influence of The Day After on the Public ......................................................................... 62 Further Popular Culture ................................................................................................... 66 Pubic Opinion Comparison ............................................................................................... 69 Chapter 4: Did America Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb? Comparisons and Conclusions .................................................................................. 72 Overall Comparisons ......................................................................................................... 72 Place in the Historiography ............................................................................................... 73 Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 76 Chapter One: Primary ....................................................................................................... 76 Newspapers ...................................................................................................................... 76 Popular Culture ................................................................................................................ 77 Chapter Two: Primary ...................................................................................................... 78 Newspapers ...................................................................................................................... 78 Popular Culture ................................................................................................................ 79 Chapter Three: Primary .................................................................................................... 80 Newspapers ...................................................................................................................... 80 Popular Culture ................................................................................................................ 81 Secondary: All Three Chapters ....................................................................................... 82 Rory McGlynn – Did America Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb? 3 Introduction “Deterrence is the art of producing, in the mind of the enemy, the fear to attack”.1 Dr Strangelove Dr Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is one of history’s most iconic films and seen by many as the greatest political satire of all time. Yet did millions of ordinary Americans learn to love the bomb? And to what extent did popular culture and the media play a role in forming public opinion on nuclear weapons? Many see the nuclear arms race of the Cold War as a period characterised by fear and panic about nuclear annihilation, but was this actually the case? Throughout the Cold War the public perception of nuclear weapons fluctuated significantly during various points of the conflict. This thesis concentrates on key events throughout the Cold War in order to track the development of nuclear weapons and their reception by the American public. Focussing firstly on Cuba in 1962, then on Détente throughout the 1970s, followed finally by the airing of the TV-movie The Day After in 1983. The aim of the thesis is to use these events to track the reception of nuclear weapons by the American public throughout this roughly twenty-year period. The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) and the Able Archer Crisis (1983) are seen as the two most dangerous moments of the Cold War, this thesis will track the development of public opinion between and including these two events. In the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) a new military doctrine began to emerge, one based on the idea of Mutually Assured Destruction. This doctrine, appropriately abbreviated to MAD, was based on the notion that both the United States and the Soviet Union had enough nuclear weaponry to entirely destroy each other and the world; hence, the assumption was that if no one could be sure of surviving a nuclear war, then a nuclear war would not take place. It hinged on the fact that neither country could have first-strike capabilities; the ability to wipe out the enemies nuclear arsenal in one strike and prevent a retaliatory strike. Consequently, in a war that could have turned hot, it was the fear of such a war that enabled it to never take place.2 This study will also establish whether any of the events or MAD itself contributed to a change in public opinion. 1 Frank Sauer, Atomic Anxiety: Deterrence, Taboo and the US Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons, 2 John Lewis Gaddis, The Cold War; A New History, (London: Penguin group, 2005), 80-81. Rory McGlynn – Did America Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb? 4 The thesis concentrates on the key events of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Détente and the TV-Movie The Day After. Not only are the events three key points in the