In-Class Write

1- When watching Doctor Strangelove, people will immediately learn that during the 1960’s, Americans were very cautious about Soviets, especially the army.  This is because during the movie, the main general of the base, Jack Ripper, becomes very paranoid about chemical being in the water, making people go crazy.  He also instructs his soldiers that unless you know the soldier you see, open fire on them and “ask questions later”. This shows the extent of the paranoia in the military, even if it is overly exaggerated by this completely ridiculous character.  In Eisenhower’s presidency, he despises communism, using extreme methods to show the United States power to the Soviets. It also shows that other countries found the USA’s caution of the Soviets were unhealthy, as shown by the British soldier acting very confused by the situation and finds it absolutely absurd.  

The movie also highlights the absurdity of the nuclear arms race, and how easy it is to make a mistake with nuclear weapons.  This is done by the appearance of the “doomsday device” made by the Soviets. If the Soviets had not made so many nuclear weapons, and made them armed constantly, then there would be less of a chance do start armageddon.  With the attack issued by Jack Ripper, the world was thrown into s state of unbalance. This is very similar to the Cuban missile crisis when the Soviets stationed there nuclear missiles in Cuba. During this time period, the world was constantly on the verge of complete nuclear annihilation.  This is the same situation as in the movie, because the Soviets made a mistake by missing one plane. This is the tension that is displayed during the height of the missile crisis. Also, the fact that the world ended in total annihilation of most of the world, it is an example of what would happen if Mutually Assured Destruction was put into effect, even if it was on accident.  This is something that many scientists on the projects of the nuclear bomb and the H-bomb knew would happen if two nuclear parties engaged in nuclear war. It was to serve as a warning during the time the movie was made.

2- While researching more in depth about the movie, I found many similarities between the Cuban missile crisis and the plot of the movie, even though it is not directly reference during the movie.  I learned that the crisis was a thirteen day period of extreme military and political tension between the two major powers of the world. This the stationing of nuclear missiles in Cuba, the Soviets were then on equal striking ground as the United States, who had nuclear missiles stationed in Turkey.  With this, President JFK issued a blockade around Cuba, to stop any other missile deliveries to Cuba. If the Soviets had crossed the blockade with missile parts, it would have started nuclear war. If they had not negotiated with the United States, there could have been major conflict between the two countries.  However, they came to an agreement to take out the missiles they had from Cuba and Turkey, avoiding nuclear annihilation. I also learned about many of the people behind the creation of the nuclear bomb, people who the character doctor Strangelove were based on.

Herman Kahn as a physicist and was involved in the creation of the nuclear bomb.  He was also involved in the nuclear division of the United States military. He was also opposed to President Eisenhower’s New Look plan.  This plan would make nuclear weapons one of the primary weapons to use as defense if we were attacked by a foreign nation. Kahn saw this as a dangerous plan because it guaranteed nuclear war with anyone we were attacked by, which is not an ideal situation to put the rest of the world in.  I also learn about a type of diplomacy using nuclear weapons, dubbed ‘atomic diplomacy’. While the United States had a monopoly on the nuclear weapons of the world. They merely used the existence of the weapon in their arsenal to negotiate more favorable terms with the Soviets in the time following the second world war.  This became an unfavorable practice when Eisenhower came into office, even though he used nuclear weapons as a primary means of defense.

3- If the filmmaker should add anything to the movie, he should add old nuclear policies that were used by other presidents such as Dwight Eisenhower and Harry Truman.  The reason this should be done is it would help people watching the movie understand what would actually happen if the events in of the movie took place in real life.  Showing that presidents have historically become less fond of the idea of using nuclear weapons to gain an advantage in the world very rapidly in the years after the second world war.  This could be done by the president quoting some of the previous presidents while in his debate with the other generals and political leaders. He could also use these ideas during his discussion with the Soviet ambassador.  This would be done to further explain the circumstances of the events taking place, and how not to respond to their current attack on Russia. This would also teach people watching the movie what some of the policies have been, and how what is happening during the movie should never actually happen in real life.  It would also help to reference the Cuban missile crisis while in the deliberations with the ambassador in order to say that they have fixed a bad situation before, and that it and happen again. This would allow people to compare the less dire situation of the Cuban missile crisis, to the events playing out in the movie.  It would also show what an actual nuclear scare would look like, rather that which is happen in the movie. These are the changes I would make in order to let people be more informed on the actual historical events, rather than a silly, absurd version of history.