"Nobody Wins a Nuclear War" But "Success" is Possible (fwd)

[J.A. Terranson]

Great stuff!


//Alif

-- 
"Never belong to any party, always oppose privileged classes and public
plunderers, never lack sympathy with the poor, always remain devoted to
the public welfare, never be satisfied with merely printing news, always
be drastically independent, never be afraid to attack wrong, whether by
predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty."

Joseph Pulitzer, 1907 Speech

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2011 00:43:12 -0500
From: National Security Archive <archive at GWU.EDU>
To: NSARCHIVE at HERMES.GWU.EDU
Subject: "Nobody Wins a Nuclear War" But "Success" is Possible

National Security Archive Update, February 19, 2011

"Nobody Wins a Nuclear War" But "Success" is Possible

Mixed Message of 1950s Air Force Film on a U.S.-Soviet Conflict

For more information contact:
William Burr - 202/994-7000

http://www.nsarchive.org

Washington, DC, February 19, 2011 - "The Power of Decision" may be the first (and perhaps the only) U.S. government film depicting the Cold War nightmare of a U.S.-Soviet nuclear conflict. The U.S. Air Force produced it during 1956-1957 at the request of the Strategic Air Command. Unseen for years and made public for the first time by the National Security Archive, the film depicts the U.S. Air Force's implementation of war plan "Quick Strike" in response to a Soviet surprise attack against the United States and European and East Asian allies. By the end of the film, after the Air Force launches a massive bomber-missile "double-punch," millions of Americans, Russians, Europeans, and Japanese are dead.

Colonel Dodd, the narrator, asserts that "nobody wins a nuclear war because both sides are sure to suffer terrible damage." Despite the "catastrophic" damage described by a SAC briefer, one of the film's operating assumptions is that defeat is avoidable as long as the Soviet Union cannot impose its "will." The last few minutes of the film suggest that the United States will prevail because of its successful nuclear air offensive. One of the characters, General "Pete" Larson optimistically asserts that the Soviets "must quit; we have the air and the power and they know it." It is the Soviets, not the United States, who are sending out cease-fire pleas, picked up by the CIA.

Little is known about the production or subsequent distribution of "The Power of Decision." It was probably used for internal training purposes so that officers and airmen could prepare for the worst active-duty situation that they could encounter. Perhaps the relatively unruffled style of the film's performers was to help serve as a model for SAC officers if they ever had to follow orders that could produce a nuclear holocaust.

This film is from a DVD supplied by the U.S. National Archives' motion picture unit and is hosted by the Internet Archive's Moving Images Archive.

View the complete film at http://www.nsarchive.org or watch a four-minute clip of the film on the Archive's YouTube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/nsarchive#p/a/u/0/hfhqZgg_bqQ


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