History Awesome / TheDayAfter

*** More specifically: This cheesy little made-for-TV movie may well have saved the world. Literally. And you thought there were no epic save-the-world things in real life.

** In his autobiography ''An American Life'', Ronald Reagan observed that "Yet there were still some people at the Pentagon who claimed a nuclear war was 'winnable.' I thought they were crazy." He credited ''The Day After'' as being one of the primary motivations for the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed by the United States and USSR in 1987.

*** More specifically: This cheesy little made-for-TV movie may well have saved the world. Literally. And you thought there were no epic save-the-world things in RL.

*** More specifically: This film may well have saved the world. Literally. And you thought there were no epic save-the-world things in RL.

-->''In the morning at Camp David I ran the tape of the movie ABC is running on Nov. 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 have a deterrent and to see that there is never a nuclear war.''

%%
%% The wording of his diary entry is confirmed by "The Reagan Reversal: Foreign Policy and the End of the Cold War" by Beth A. Fischer and "The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan: A History of the End of the Cold War" by James Mann.
%%
::It also drove him to actually attend a Pentagon briefing on nuclear war later that month, something he didn't do earlier in his presidency because he thought it would be pointless to rehearse TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. The briefing left him with an even deeper revulsion to nuclear weapons, as his Secretary of State recounted.\\
\\
In his autobiography ''An American Life'', Ronald Reagan observed that "Yet there were still some people at the Pentagon who claimed a nuclear war was 'winnable.' I thought they were crazy." He credited ''The Day After'' as being one of the primary motivations for the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed by the United States and USSR in 1987.

::It also drove him to actually attend a Pentagon briefing on nuclear war later that month, something he didn't do earlier in his presidency because he thought it would be pointless to rehearse TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. The briefing left him even with an even deeper revulsion to nuclear weapons, as his Secretary of State recounted.\\

* The film played a major role in affecting world policy on nuclear weapons. RonaldReagan had previewed the movie on October 10 1983, a month before it would be aired on TV. He had this to say in his diary:

* ''TheDayAfter'' played a major role in affecting world policy on nuclear weapons. RonaldReagan had previewed the movie on October 10 1983, a month before it would be aired on TV. He had this to say in his diary:

** More Laconically: This movie may have single-handedly fostered a move away from nuclear war, during a period where such a war was seen as inevitable. That is a Crowning Moment of Crowning Moments of Awesome.

In his autobiography ''An American Life'', Ronald Reagan observed that "Yet there were still some people at the Pentagon who claimed a nuclear war was 'winnable.' I thought they were crazy." He credited ''The Day After'' as being one of the primary motivations for the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed by the United States and USSR in 1987.

It also drove him to actually attend a Pentagon briefing on nuclear war later that month, something he didn't do earlier in his presidency because he thought it would be pointless to rehearse TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. The briefing left him even with an even deeper revulsion to nuclear weapons, as his Secretary of State recounted.\\

* ''TheDayAfter'' played a major role in affecting world policy on nuclear weapons. RonaldReagan had previewed the movie in October of 1983, a month before it would be aired on TV. He wrote in his diary that the film left him greatly depressed--it also drove him to actually attend a Pentagon briefing on nuclear war later that month, something he didn't do earlier in his presidency because he thought it would be pointless to rehearse TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. The briefing left him even with an even deeper revulsion to nuclear weapons, as his Secretary of State recounted.\\

In his memoirs, Ronald Reagan credited ''The Day After'' as being one of the primary motivations for the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed by the United States and USSR in 1987.

When the United States and USSR the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987, Reagan had this to say to ''TheDayAfter'''s director, Nicholas Meyer:
-->''"Don't think your movie didn't have any part of this, because it did."''

* ''TheDayAfter'' played a major role in affecting world policy on nuclear weapons. RonaldReagan had previewed the movie in October of 1983, a month before it would be aired on TV. He wrote in his diary that the film left him greatly depressed--it also drove him to actually attend a Pentagon briefing on nuclear war, something he didn't do earlier in his presidency because he thought it would be pointless to rehearse TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. The briefing left him even with an even deeper revulsion to nuclear weapons, as his Secretary of State recounted.\\