Antinuclear Politics, Atomic Culture, and Reagan Era Foreign Policy
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Selling the Second Cold War: Antinuclear Cultural Activism and Reagan Era Foreign Policy A dissertation presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy William M. Knoblauch March 2012 © 2012 William M. Knoblauch. All Rights Reserved. 2 This dissertation titled Selling the Second Cold War: Antinuclear Cultural Activism and Reagan Era Foreign Policy by WILLIAM M. KNOBLAUCH has been approved for the Department of History and the College of Arts and Sciences by __________________________________ Chester J. Pach Associate Professor of History __________________________________ Howard Dewald Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 3 ABSTRACT KNOBLAUCH, WILLIAM M., Ph.D., March 2012, History Selling the Second Cold War: Antinuclear Cultural Activism and Reagan Era Foreign Policy Director of Dissertation: Chester J. Pach This dissertation examines how 1980s antinuclear activists utilized popular culture to criticize the Reagan administration’s arms buildup. The 1970s and the era of détente marked a decade-long nadir for American antinuclear activism. Ronald Reagan’s rise to the presidency in 1981 helped to usher in the “Second Cold War,” a period of reignited Cold War animosities that rekindled atomic anxiety. As the arms race escalated, antinuclear activism surged. Alongside grassroots movements, such as the nuclear freeze campaign, a unique group of antinuclear activists—including publishers, authors, directors, musicians, scientists, and celebrities—challenged Reagan’s military buildup in American mass media and popular culture. These activists included Fate of the Earth author Jonathan Schell, Day After director Nicholas Meyer, and “nuclear winter” scientific-spokesperson Carl Sagan. Through popular media, these figures spread criticisms of Reagan’s Cold War initiatives, such as the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, or “Star Wars”) and the American nuclear missile deployment in Europe, to millions of Americans. Their efforts not only popularized the nuclear freeze campaign, but also influenced leaders in Australia, New Zealand, and in the Vatican, to question and even reject U.S. policies. In short, antinuclear cultural activism posed a serious threat to Reagan’s Cold War initiatives. 4 This dissertation utilizes research from presidential libraries, television news archives, and special collections, as well as cultural analysis and contemporary interviews, to reassert cultural activism’s importance in Cold War history. In the 1980s, American mass media became a contested space in which the Reagan administration battled antinuclear cultural activists for American hearts and minds. Archival research reveals that this cultural activism alarmed the White House. Angered at antinuclear activists ability to permeate popular culture, the White House developed public affairs strategies to repackage its foreign policy and rebrand Reagan as a peacekeeper. Still, the Reagan administration’s refusal to side publicly with pro-arms buildup groups—such as Daniel Graham’s pro-SDI group “High Frontier”—shows that the White House took these antinuclear warnings seriously. If activists’ efforts ultimately failed to sway a majority of Americans’ views on Reagan, they only failed in the face of a considerable and coordinated White House response. By 1985, the White House had won the media battle, but not before shifting its rhetoric and reconsidering its policies. In 1981, the Reagan administration boasted about prevailing in a nuclear war. In the wake of antinuclear cultural activism, they expressed activists’ belief that a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought. Approved: ______________________________________________________________ Chester J. Pach Associate Professor of History 5 DEDICATION This project would never have been completed without the love and support of Anna Seidel-Quast. This dissertation is dedicated to her. 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the development of my historical thinking, I would like to thank J. Paul O’Keefe, Paul Schue, Richard Rapson, Susan Deeds, Charles Connell, George Lubick, Leilah Danielson, and Michael Amundson. This project grew out of a Contemporary History Institute funded seminar with Lary and Elaine Tyler May. Ed Linenthal provided important research materials, while Paul Boyer, Patrick McCray, Tony Shaw, Paul Rubinson, and Lawrence Wittner shared valuable insights. At the Reagan Presidential Library, Shelley Nayak was an ideal archivist. Elaine Engst at Cornell University Library’s Special Collections located crucial documents, as did John Lynch at the Vanderbilt News Archives. Thanks to Jonathan Schell, Tom Engelhardt, Richard Turco, O. Brian Toon, Bob Derkach, Rob Wood, Pamela Ronsaville, Jon Lomberg, and Ann Druyan for their insights. Thanks to Lyle Graham, Nathan Bean, David Pagels, Brian Johnson, Brooke Toole, Benita Blessing, Tuffy Morzenti, Juan Jimenez, Erica Hannickel, Osie T. Collins, and Brandi Rodgers for support. I am forever indebted to my parents, Cheryl Hicks and William F. Knoblauch, and to my siblings Jill, Jane, and A. Abby Knoblauch. At Ohio University, working with Christian Peterson, Bill King, Jon Peterson, Paul Isherwood, Todd Pfeffer, Sarah Iler, Matt Jacobs, and Morgan Burke was a pleasure. All aspiring historians should take Kevin Mattson’s historiography course. I’d like to thank him, as well as Katherine Jellison, Joseph Slade, and Allan Winkler, for being outside readers on this project. Finally, my advisor Chester Pach deserves special thanks. His patience and meticulous eye improved this dissertation considerably. Dr. Pach’s dedication to his graduate students is without parallel. I owe him a lot; so does Ohio University. 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ...…………………………………………………………………………………3 Dedication ...……………………………………………………………………………....5 Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………….6 List of Images …………………………………………………………………………….8 Abbreviations ...………………………………………………………………………….10 Chapter 1: Introduction ...………………………………………………………………..11 Chapter 2: The Rise of Reagan and the Second Cold War ...……………………………25 Chapter 3: Antinuclear Paperbacks and the White House’s “Peaceful Offensive” ……..60 Chapter 4: British Pop, MTV, and Transnational Antinuclear Protest Music …………..96 Chapter 5: Selling “Star Wars” in American Mass Media …………………………….119 Chapter 6: The Day After: An Antinuclear Media Event ...……….……………………174 Chapter 7: Carl Sagan and the Creation of Nuclear Winter ……………………………206 Chapter 8: Selling Nuclear Winter and Spreading Scientific Doubt ………………......236 Chapter 9: Conclusion …………………………………………………………………285 Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………...293 8 LIST OF IMAGES Illustrations Image 1: “Thinking the Unthinkable,” Time, March 29, 1982…....…….…………..…...26 Image 2: Yamashita, from The Unforgettable Fire……………………………………...66 Image 3: Screen captures from Tears for Fears’ “Mother’s Talk” U.S. video……...….115 Image 4: High Frontier’s A Defense that Defends screen capture number one……. ….137 Image 5: High Frontier’s A Defense that Defends screen capture number two.…… ….138 Image 6: “Weapons in Space” screen capture number one.....………………..……..…147 Image 7: “Weapons in Space” screen capture number two.……………………………147 Image 8: Reagan’s “Prepared for Peace” campaign ad, 1984…………....…………….151 Image 9: High Frontier’s “Crayola Ad,” October 1984……………………...…...……152 Image 10: The “Star Wars I” ad……………………..…………………………………154 Image 11: The UCS “Twinkle Twinkle” ad, May 1985................……….........……….155 Image 12: Jon Lomberg’s “Arabian Oil Fires,” 1983.....…….…………………………220 Image 13: Chesley Bonestell image from “Rocket Blitz from the Moon,” Colliers, 1948.…………………………………………………………………………………….222 Image 14: “Pale Blue Dot,” Life, 1968. “Pale Blue Dot,” Life, 1968..…………………227 Image 15: Rob Wood, “before” nuclear winter, from The Cold and the Dark.………...248 Image 16: Rob Wood, “after” nuclear winter, from The Cold and the Dark…………..249 Image 17: NASA stock footage of earth from the “Global Environmental Consequences of Nuclear War” presentation…………………………………………………………..250 9 Image 18: Jon Lomberg’s depiction of nuclear winter from the “Global Environmental Consequences of Nuclear War” presentation…………………….…………………….251 Image 19: Jon Lomberg’s nuclear war from space, Parade, October 30, 1983 ......…...253 Image 20: Frozen oranges from “The Global Environmental Consequences of Nuclear War,” 1983 …………………………………………………………………………….254 Image 21: Parade, 1983, with Jon Lomberg’s Oil Fires ………………………………256 10 ABBREVIATIONS Used in Text ABM Anti-Ballistic Missile ASAT Anti-Satellite Weapon BAMBI Ballistic Missile Boost Intercept BMD Ballistic Missile Defense CPD Committee on the Present Danger ICBM Intercontinental Ballistic Missile IRBM Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile MIRV Multiple Interdisciplinary Reentry Vehicle MTV Music Television MX Missile Experimental NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NGOs Non-Governmental Organizations NPR National Public Radio NSC National Security Council NSDD National Security Decision Directive PSR Physicians for Social Responsibility SALT Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty SDI Strategic Defense Initiative, also referred to as Star Wars SDIO Strategic Defense Initiative Organization SLBM Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile START Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty TTAPS Acronym for the nuclear winter scientists: Brian Toon, Richard Turco, Thomas Ackerman, James Pollack, and Carl Sagan UCS Union of Concerned Scientists UKCD United Kingdom Civil Defense Used