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Dr. Strangelove

Science had been the promise of the future, producing marvels and improving the economy for over a century, but now science was suspect because the future it had promised was threatened by one of its inventions. This attitude was embodied in popular culture and in the Cold War tensions which caused many to build fallout shelters in their back yard.

Weart notes the way with which America first viewed the nuclear fireball on television in 1954: "I remember staring in dread fascination at the television that afternoon. . ." (Weart 183). Weart also notes how the increase in fear of nuclear war affected Americans differently than it did Russians, because the Russians had memories of war on their own soil, while Americans did not (Weart 112). Americans may also have started to fear what could happen on American soil as they became more aware of what had already happened on Japanese soil.

In his book War and Peace in the Nuclear Age, John Newhouse addresses issues raised during the nuclear age extending from the conclusion of World War II, when America inaugurated the nuclear age by dropping the atomic bomb on Japan, through the Cold War with its indirect conflicts between the nuclear superpowers, to the present age when fear of nuclear attack has shifted to a fear of rogue states and terrorists. The book was published in 1988, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union, which gives the book a certain antiquated feel near the end as the author speculates on the course of the future and places great emphasis on the need for Gorbachev to remain and to continue his reforms:

The bilateral relationship being worked out should be more important than arms control itself, assuming, of course, that Gorbachev survives (Newhouse 420).

Newhouse therefore details the history of the Cold War but just misses its end. He certainly does not foresee the sorts of changes that were coming within a year. Newho...

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Dr. Strangelove. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 14:12, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1707564.html