“Imagine the Unthinkable,” The Day After and the Cold War

Background

On Sunday, November 20, 1984, the United States was, cinematically, plunged into nuclear war with the Soviet Union when ABC broadcast the film, The Day After. A television “event,” in the genre of films such as Roots and Holocaust, the film depicts the how the run-up and aftermath of a nuclear attack might affect Lawrence, Kansas. In an editorial, the New York Times dismissed the film, “A hundred million Americans were summoned to be empathetically incinerated, and left on the true day after without a single idea to chew upon" (Emmanuel).

The film, it appears, had an impact on President Ronald Reagan, himself a former actor. In his diary, Reagan wrote, “In the morning at Camp David I ran the tape of the movie ABC is running on November 20. It’s called ‘The Day After’ in which Lawrence Kansas is wiped out in a nuclear war with Russia. It is powerfully done, all $7 million worth. It is very effective and left me greatly depressed. So far they haven’t sold any of the 25 ads scheduled and I can see why. . .My own reaction: we have to do all we can. . .to see that there is never a nuclear war” (Rhodes 168).

Arguably, the film pushed Reagan, a former film actor, away from the bellicose rhetoric that he had used towards the Soviet Union earlier in his term as President (Rhodes 170-176).

Here is a trailer that explains the basic plot of the film




Here is the "attack sequence" clip



Discussion
If you had watched this film during the original broadcast, what would your initial reaction have been? Would it have motivated you to take action?

Do you think The Day After is critical of American foreign policy?

Why do you think that ABC decided to make and show this film?

Would a television network show a film like this today?

Sources

Richard Rhodes, Arsenals of Folly: The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2007.

Susan Emmanuel, “The Day After,” The Museum of Broadcast Communications.

The film has an excellent Wikipeida entry.