WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: Did Reagan's Star Wars program win the Cold War? 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:03.360 Hey, everybody, it's me Josh and for this week's s 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:07.160 Y s K Selects, I've chosen did Reagan Star Wars 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:10.760 program Win the Cold War, which we originally released back 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:13.840 in August of two thousand and twelve. It's a pretty 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.720 good look at the time Ronald Reagan bled the Soviet 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:20.319 Union dry so badly that it actually brought an end 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:24.720 to communism basically all over the world. It's a pretty 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:28.440 good episode and I hope you enjoy it. Let's listen now. 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:36.880 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff Works 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:46.080 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:52.879 There's Charles W. Chuckers Bryant sitting across from me. Hi. Yeah, 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:55.400 have you ever seen Hunty Darko? Oh dude, that's one 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:58.560 of my favorites. You know when he takes that mescaline 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:01.080 and like that thing comes out of his chest and 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:03.960 he starts following it. Yeah, he doesn't take mescalin. But yeah, 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:06.720 sometimes I feel when we're sitting across from or another, 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:11.199 we're connected by one of us, like a warm hole 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:14.360 of fellowship. Yeah, like from the Abyss that's what it 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:16.240 sort of looked like. Yeah, it did look a lot 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:19.920 like that. I love that movie. Yeah, when um, when 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:23.560 Ed Harris takes all that mescaline that movie and sees 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:26.039 the sees that thing come up out of the water, 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:30.039 it was just like that. No mescaline, no movies. How's 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:33.119 it coming in which people take mescalin? Ah, there's plenty 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:39.600 of those. Sure, this is what people have been complaining 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:43.360 about lately. Who's been complaining? Tell me their names, the 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:47.280 various people people have been complained. Oh, you bring something up. 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:49.360 I feel like we should address something. We haven't done 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:52.080 this in a really long time. It appears to me 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:57.040 that we have a lot of newcomers. Yeah, welcome, Yes, welcome, um, 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:00.960 And I think anyone who's been following the whole time 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:04.680 it kind of gets the stuff you should know jam right. Yeah, 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:06.080 But it seems like there's a lot of people who 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:08.640 don't quite understand what we're doing and think that we 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:12.840 purport to be infallible experts on everything and that we 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:16.359 don't just get things wrong from time to time. We're 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:19.320 just a couple of guys who are pretty decent at researching. 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:23.000 That doesn't mean like we invented the topic that we're 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:25.639 talking about, or that we didn't just walk right past. 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:29.280 Um a fact or something that we missed in our research. 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:32.040 It comes up. It happens from time time, So I 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:35.079 guess if you're just joining us, that's probably something good 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:37.639 to keep in mind. We don't claim to be experts, 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:39.680 so don't hold us to that standard because we're not 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:42.240 trying to reach that standard. We're just trying to impart 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:48.639 some really great information as factually as possible. Um and uh, 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:54.840 we love science and wonder great. Are you good? Ah? Yeah? Alright, 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:57.480 how are you doing? I'm awesome. Do you have anything 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:00.400 to get off of your chest? No, just welcome the 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:05.840 pamina cheese. Many sandwiches are in the corner. Help yourself, 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:09.720 so chuck. Yes. Do you remember a while back we talked, well, 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.960 we've talked about this stuff a lot, Mutual assured destruction. 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:16.919 We did a podcast on that, specifically, didn't we we did? Um? 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:19.480 We did one on who who won the Cold War? 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:22.560 Did one on how to steal a nuclear bomb? Yeah, 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:28.560 like we've done. It's just a fascinating period of world history, 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:32.280 the Cold War, agreed, incredibly tense, incredibly scary, and this 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:37.360 is our history. It is in part because you're half Russian. No, 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:42.960 but Um, I was alive and well and young war kids, 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:47.280 weren't we. Yeah, yeah, we've talked about this before, Ruskies, 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:53.520 little risk. Um. So uh, the central I guess, the 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:56.160 fulcrum of the Cold War, the fact that the reason 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:58.760 we're all still here is that was the doctrine of 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:01.640 mutual is sure destruction, Yes, which is basically like, we 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:04.720 had enough nukes to wipe out the entire world. The 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.440 Soviet Union had enough nukes to wipe out the entire world. 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:11.880 So we were just there in a tense, fragile they taunt, 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:15.360 how about a nice game of chess? Exactly, That's why 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:19.720 we're still here. So um, this was I guess this 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:25.360 accepted reality for every president and every premiere um from well, 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:29.760 I guess who for us from ke On, this mutual 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:33.200 assured destruction doctrine was just kind of a part of 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:37.799 daily life. Um. But when Ronald Reagan came into office, 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.920 he came up with a different plan. He did in need, 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:45.680 so instead of a tense standoff, he found that untoward. 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:49.400 I guess I think he found it. From my understanding 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:52.240 of Reagan, he would have found it untoward because it 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:56.000 didn't give America a clear advantage. Well, the article says 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:59.880 he found it morally and politically distasteful. I agree with 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:03.880 in that Reagan didn't like mutual or shore destruction for 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:06.159 one reason or another. So we came up with something 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:09.320 a game changer, you would call it today. If you 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:13.560 read books that of an airplane is also reading at 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:16.920 the same time, that's right, what is it, Josh? He 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:21.520 came up with the Strategic Defense Initiative, which the press 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:25.200 like to call start the star Wars program. And I 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:29.400 remember this very very well because it was largely derided 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:32.600 in the press for a bunch of reasons. Uh, we're 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:35.680 going to talk about Yeah, I remember very well too. 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:39.880 It was all over Mad magazine. Um, it was all 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:44.320 over time. There were awesome illustrations of like satellites with 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:46.520 laser shooting out of them that like you could see 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.440 in the mainstream media a lot. Sure, Um, But yeah, 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:53.640 I also remember it kind of just basically being generally 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:59.000 disliked by the public. Yeah, as well. Pretty much it was. 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:03.040 It was to be laughed at in many circles, although 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:05.760 it was a very serious thing. It was, and it 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.280 was laughed at for a lot of reasons. But that 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:12.360 we're gonna go over. So Reagan On March twe he 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:17.160 held an address to the nation, little televised speech, and 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:23.320 in it he challenged the um scientific community UM, who 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:27.960 he said had created nuclear weapons, to make those very 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:32.320 same weapons quote UM, impotent and obsolete. And that kind 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:36.839 of became the rallying cry, like, let's make nukes impotent 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:38.560 and obsolete. And the way you do that is to 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:41.880 make it so that we have a missile defense system 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:46.719 that can shoot down every single nuclear warhead that Russia 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:49.720 has in its arsenal, all at once, if need be. Yeah, 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:53.960 after launch. Um, that is so like if they launched 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:58.520 their missiles, we can shoot them down in space and UM. 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:00.880 In Reagan's view, which you know, I can see his 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:04.320 point at the time, UM, there would not be any 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:07.080 more need for He thought, it would like neuter the 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:11.520 Cold War in its tracks. Soviet Union thought that's not 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:15.480 too cool. They thought, yet, and yet, and yet, because 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:18.920 well a lot of a lot of people felt like 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:21.280 it was going to escalate the arms race, the Soviets thought, 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:23.560 this just means you have a clear advantage over us. 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:27.400 This doesn't neuter like it neuters us, It doesn't neuter you. Right, 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:31.400 And Reagan said as many times as the Soviets could 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:35.120 stand to hear it that, Um, this was strictly a 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:39.920 missile defense system, a net or a shield if you will, Um, 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:42.880 that that would only be used in the event that 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:48.120 a Soviet nuclear launch was detected. Right, But the Soviets 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:50.760 were saying, or you could just shoot all of our 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:54.600 missiles down and then launch a strike, a first strike 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:57.400 where we would have no way to retaliate. So, yeah, 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:01.600 this is totally unacceptable. And yeah, the Russian rallied against it, 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:04.480 but not just them the here at home, there are 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:07.400 a lot of people who didn't really care for it, 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:11.080 including the public who thought it was a pipe dream, 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:14.800 or who thought it would escalate a new arms racist Soviets, 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:16.600 or who just thought it was going to be a 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:20.000 huge like money pit. Yeah, and it was a lot 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:22.960 of those things. Um. And when we say, Soviets, let's 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:26.800 go ahead and call out the premiere that I didn't 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:31.120 remember Yuri and drop off. I didn't remember him. I 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:32.960 don't remember him either, and I looked him up. He 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.199 was only I mean that it seems like there was 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:37.120 a lot of premiers there for a while that like 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:41.840 died thereafter. I think he was in like like less 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:44.480 than a year and a half. H he was like 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:47.160 the KGB had something to do with it in vodka 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:51.520 o um. So he was the premier at the time. 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:55.280 He wasn't a fan. They launched a big propaganda campaign, 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:59.839 it says sevent Their propaganda went toward UH poopoo ing 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.839 the Star Wars defense program, even though they didn't think 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:08.040 it was gonna work. Our Congress apparently right Apparently the 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:10.720 Soviets were like, this is not a feasible program. Well, 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:13.040 and they said it violates a couple of important treatise 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:16.439 UM the a b M, the Anti Ballistic Missile Treaty 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:20.719 of seventy two, which the Soviet Union in in UH 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:22.679 the United States were both a part of, said that 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:26.080 at the time that was two ground based missile defense 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:28.280 systems you were allowed. Later on it was one, and 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:30.200 I guess this would have been more than two. Not 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:33.480 only that ground based is a an operative term in 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:36.080 this case, because this was going to be this the 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:39.679 strategic defense initiative was going to be space based, and 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:43.720 that violates another treaty. N seven Outer Space treaty says 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:47.679 that you cannot use weapons of mass destruction in space, 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:50.640 and that's pretty much what was going on or that 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:54.080 was what was planned, right? So UM, all right, so 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:57.560 that's that's why they don't like it, right why And 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:01.240 Congress didn't like it. Congress didn't like either. Most people 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:05.600 in Congress they they apparently the UM, the Missile Defense 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:11.160 Agency attributes UM coining the term star wars to describe 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:14.400 the strategic convinced the nation initiative to mock it, really 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:18.200 UM to Ted Kennedy and an interview in the Washington Post, 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:23.440 like almost right after Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative, 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:25.679 and Reagan spent the rest of the time he was 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:29.560 in office trying to simultaneously get this push through and 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:32.600 to get everyone to stop calling it star wars, because 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:38.120 luck had had it caught the American public's imagination like, oh, yeah, 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:42.000 star wars, let's just go ahead and blow up Russia 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:44.800 with star wars, he would have been like, yeah, let's 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:46.959 call it star wars. It's awesome. But it was like 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:50.520 Reagan star wars, that crazy old kok he's got all time, 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:53.040 and he wants to put weapons in space and just 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:55.680 shoot lasers around and all that. So he spent a 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:57.800 lot of time lobbying against people calling it star wars. 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:00.880 But it didn't work. Uh No, he tried to go 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:04.880 by the name Strategic Defense in Initiative. And you know 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:06.480 how the press is. I think he is to get 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:09.160 ahold of something. It's all over. He was probably even 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:12.520 willing to to um allow it to be called the 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:16.240 sd I. I'll bet he was even like sd I. 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:40.080 So Europe wasn't all in favor the Allies. They had 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:43.360 some concerns about the balance of power and how this 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:48.160 would affect it. Obviously, and like you said, Congress, Um, 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:50.800 not everyone was against it, but they had some major issues, 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:55.640 largely a the cost and be is it even possible? 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:59.000 Like are we just pipe dreaming here on these lasers? 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:02.839 And they were kind of right well at the time, 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:06.440 they were so in in Reagan's defense, he said from 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:10.760 the outset like this can take years, decades. This is 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:13.240 not going to be an overnight thing. And he also said, 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:15.240 we're going to test a lot of different stuff. Right 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:17.200 that he was like he was well aware of the 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:20.800 technology didn't exist, or if it did exist, it was 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:25.240 like a glimmer in some national laboratory scientists eyes and 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:28.360 it was just in the nascent stages. So um, from 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:30.800 the outside he commissioned some reports, and the one that 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:32.920 kind of got picked up was the Fletcher Report. And 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:35.560 the Fletcher Report basically said, here are eight things you 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:40.360 need to build the Strategic Defense Initiative, everything from sensors 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:45.800 that can detect when uh intercontinental ballistic missile launch is 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:48.800 launched because they don't phone you up and say we've 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:51.440 launched exactly right, and you need to make sure that 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:53.320 they're accurate. And it's not going to be like a 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:57.720 wargames thing where it's like whatever. Um, you also need 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:01.640 to come up with some incredible guided miss systems. Um. 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:03.680 Just this, Like I think there were like eight different 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:08.080 different aspects that basically either needed to be created or 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:09.920 needed to be refined to the point where they might 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:14.680 as well be created from scratch. And Reagan said do this. Yeah, 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:16.720 he said, press on. And I think a lot of 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:18.880 people at the time in Congress at least we're saying, 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.600 good idea, let's use this as a bargaining tool in 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:24.640 the arms race, like we don't really have to do 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:27.480 it right there, like everyone thinks you're serious exactly, And 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:29.640 he said this could work as a bargaining chip and 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:32.360 he was like, no, I really want the Star wars. Uh, 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:38.040 I'm sorry, sd Ift. So apparently um Gorbach got Reagan 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:43.400 to meet him for UM Arms Limitations talks in Iceland 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:48.839 in October, and Reagan went and they had this great 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:52.800 talk and like basically Gorbach was like, let's end mutual 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:56.440 sure destruction. Let's basically get rid of our arsenals. And 0:13:56.640 --> 0:13:59.760 the Soviets were just throwing like bone after bone out 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:03.120 the table, and Reagan just can't believe his luck. And 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:05.760 then all of a sudden, gorbacho at the end is like, okay, 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:07.920 so we'll go ahead and sign off on this, but 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:10.839 all of this is contingent that you give up Star Wars, right, 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:14.760 And Reagan stood up in the left. Really he left, yeah, 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:17.440 which is kind of like that's a little crazy maybe, 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:20.120 but that's the level of commitment. He apparently had two 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:24.120 Star Wars. Well yeah, not too long after, the Soviet says, well, 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:26.720 you know what, we got to do something. We can't 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:29.360 build a Star Wars. And it's actually a pretty good 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:32.160 idea they said we can, well, at least they thought 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:36.120 they could. UM undertake what they called the Polus Skiff, 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:40.760 which was will invent a network of weapons to destroy 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:46.200 your Star Wars machine UM, which was Hey, that's pretty 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:48.920 good thinking. But they didn't have the funding, and uh, 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:51.720 it was not very successful either. No, they didn't. And 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:55.240 that leads us to um a point if I may 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:59.960 skip around a little chuckture, but um, history is kind 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:04.400 have vindicated Reagan in one way, Like his Star Wars 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:07.480 program didn't go anywhere, but it wasn't given very much time. 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:10.560 And the reason why is because the fall of the 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:15.040 Soviet Union happened within less than a decade after he 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:19.600 announced the star Wars initiative. The program, Uh, the Soviet 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:24.280 Union fell collapsed entirely. Uh. And some people attribute that 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:29.360 to the defense spending that he immediately caused them to 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:34.480 to start expending because of the Star Wars program. True, 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:37.280 so he did kind of ratchet up this arms race, 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:39.920 but the Soviets couldn't keep up. This came on the 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:44.080 heels of US bleeding them dry in Afghanistan secretly funding 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:46.520 the muja Hadeen which became the Taliban by the way, 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:49.320 but we I don't know how much Reagan knew, but 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:53.600 the the Soviets were hurting financially, and then all of 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:56.680 a sudden he introduced Star Wars and they couldn't keep up. Yea, 0:15:56.840 --> 0:16:00.520 and the follow Soviet union. With that came obviously the 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:04.920 at least huge threat of all out nuclear war because 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:08.640 they were the major players. Um you didn't have to 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:10.880 worry about the smaller countries, you know, as far as 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:13.240 M A. D goes, right, but you had to worry 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:16.040 about rogue states and all that, right, making sure that 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.440 the Russians could hang onto their arsenal, which they didn't 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:21.680 do very well necessarily. But yes, the mutual sure destruction 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:24.880 just went the way the dinosaur. When the Soviets fell. Um, 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:28.080 H W. Bush comes along, people get annoyed by the way, 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:30.880 and when we don't say President so and so, who 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:34.000 does here? Are you see as this on Facebook? Now, 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:36.440 I've seen people right in before, and I've heard other 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:38.760 people say you should always address them as President so 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:42.680 and so. But I hear all the time people say Obama, Clinton, Reagan. 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:48.640 So no no disrespect intended, folks. H W. Bush comes along, 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:51.800 Soviet union has fallen, So he's like, you know what, 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:54.320 we need to really cut back on this scope of 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:57.200 this sd I. He probably would have just scrapped it 0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:01.240 all together. But he was pretty loyal to Reagan, of course, 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.840 and um so he refocuses a program, cuts it back. 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:10.320 Clinton comes along President Clinton and refines it even more 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:13.440 and cuts it back even more. And by the time 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:18.280 that happened, it wasn't anything like Reagan's initial Star Wars program. No, 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:21.160 not at all. No, but it would become handy, which 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.760 we'll get too. So let's talk about what Star Wars was. 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:26.800 We've kind of given like a little bit of a 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:30.040 broad overview. But um, until I started researching this, I 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:33.680 hadn't really thought about it. But intercontinental ballistic missiles once 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:39.600 capable of saying, traveling from Moscow to New York, I 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:44.080 have to leave Earth's atmosphere and enter orbit. And so 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:48.240 the idea was we would have something up there that 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:51.600 could shoot it down when it entered orbit, That's right, 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:53.920 Which meant that we had to place. We had to 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:56.800 weaponize space. Yeah, and I wonder if they ever gave 0:17:56.840 --> 0:18:00.679 any thought to what nuclear bomb is going off in 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:04.359 space would mean. I mean, surely there's repercussions there. I 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:07.600 know it's space, But you can't just go willie nilly 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:11.600 setting off nuclear bombs in space? Right did in Nevada? Well, 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:15.040 that's that's true, but Kin Toll, Yeah, and look what 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:19.600 happened there? What happened there? Well, I'm just saying it. 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:21.840 It's it's got to cause some kind of harm to 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:24.320 space even though it's space, right, or does it just 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:26.560 suck into it? Like, I have no idea. This is 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:29.520 something I could not find. I mean a research that 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:32.200 couldn't find anything. Yeah. No, I understand what you're saying. 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:35.440 In space is a vacuum, so it should have some 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:38.720 effect or no effect whatsoever, but it's got to and 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:42.720 got to do something. There's someone out there really smart 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:44.720 that hopefully is going to email me. I guess though. 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:48.199 The the idea behind this was fairly utilitarian, where it 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:52.600 was like, okay, this possible consequence in space or saving 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:55.840 millions of lives here on Earth, and they just said whatever, 0:18:55.880 --> 0:19:01.000 that's fine, of course. Um, But so you have something 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:04.880 up in space that's capable of shooting down an intercontinental 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:08.239 ballistic missile, like an X ray laser. That's this is 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:10.240 like where we kind of come to some of them, 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.720 Like there were a lot of proposals that were kind 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:16.480 of out there, but they went ahead and spent a 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:19.639 lot of money testing these things like the X ray laser, 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:23.439 And that was a physicist Edward Teller. Um it was 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:26.000 created the hydrogen bomb. Yeah, I saw that. It was 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:30.959 his proposal, so they obviously listened to him, and um, 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:33.920 it was gonna use power generated by a nuclear blast. 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:38.159 And it never performed well, and it really became the 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:43.520 focus point for the press and for David Letterman and 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:47.000 for Johnny Carson to make fun of because it was 0:19:47.040 --> 0:19:48.800 an X ray laser and this is coming off the 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:52.840 heels of the Star Wars movies themselves with their X 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:56.919 ray blasters. Actually they were star blowing up yeah, or 0:19:56.960 --> 0:19:59.800 the dust star blowing up that planet Aldern. I think 0:19:59.840 --> 0:20:03.879 they focused the laser and boom, Um, you just saved 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:06.200 me from a lot of ire because I was gonna say, tattooing, 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:08.440 I might have got it wrong. I think it was 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:10.120 all the wrong. Man. I hope you got it. If 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:12.560 there's one thing that I ever hope you got right, 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:15.800 it was that one. So so many Star Trek fans 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:20.320 would be writing in so that there's the X ray 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:22.399 laser and it doesn't go over very well, which was 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:25.480 very much the focus of the media, and they were 0:20:25.480 --> 0:20:27.760 being chided for the fact that they you know, sounded 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:31.720 really far out right, but they they tested it it 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:34.000 just wouldn't work. The idea behind it was that they 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:36.960 were going to have a small controlled nuclear explosion that 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:40.919 would power this laser right to create a massive amount 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:45.800 of X rays, a concentrated amount of X rays UM 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:48.440 that would be focused on a missile and the go kaboom. 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:51.439 It was called Project X Caliber, so it had a 0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:55.320 cool name to but apparently Teller or the people behind 0:20:55.400 --> 0:21:01.720 it were accused of falsifying the initial UH test the result. Yeah, 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:05.600 so it kind of went down and scandal and mockery 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:08.040 and everything. So in the little boxes said worked or 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:10.440 didn't work, they just checked worked and like we shuffled 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:14.080 away with cartoons to it like coming off. And therefore, 0:21:44.520 --> 0:21:47.760 so some of the other ideas that they tried UM 0:21:47.760 --> 0:21:52.520 and spent billions of dollars trying um kinetic warheads, apparently 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:55.679 they would collide in the orbit. It's like shooting a 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:58.880 shooting a missile at another missile UM And that one 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:01.160 actually was like the big dog on the block for 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:03.919 a while at first in the early stages of Star Wars, 0:22:04.040 --> 0:22:07.360 because they figured out that you could have this thing 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:12.440 like basically a satellite based garage with like ten missiles 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:15.480 in it, and you just have it floating up there 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:17.320 and then shoot at a missile. You know. When one 0:22:17.359 --> 0:22:19.159 came up and it was a good idea, they're like, 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:21.560 we can actually do that, Like, I think we can 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:24.240 do this. The problem is that somebody pointed out that 0:22:24.280 --> 0:22:26.040 all the Russians had to do is shoot a missile 0:22:26.080 --> 0:22:29.520 at your garage, and for their one missile, they took 0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:32.680 out ten. So people said, okay, let's get back to it, 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:35.280 and they started exploring other one. It's like bringing a 0:22:35.400 --> 0:22:37.960 knife to a gunfight. It's like bringing a missile to 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:43.480 a multi missile fight. No that I don't think that 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:45.560 analogy works at all. I know. I think it's like 0:22:46.160 --> 0:22:49.719 a sitting duck. Okay. Uh. The other thing they wanted 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:53.480 to try, Josh, was US rail guns mounted on satellites. 0:22:53.760 --> 0:22:56.200 Did you see the popular mechanics drawing of it. I did, 0:22:56.240 --> 0:22:58.560 and it's pretty wicked. Yeah. I gotta admit. It looks 0:22:58.560 --> 0:23:00.320 like an I beam coming out of this out of like, 0:23:00.320 --> 0:23:02.960 but it's shooting like a three ounce slug at two 0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:06.159 hundred miles a second. It's pretty wicked. Yeah. Um, that 0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:10.480 one didn't go very far because of the um energy requirements. Yeah, 0:23:10.480 --> 0:23:14.880 it was just way too expensive in an energy sense. Uh. 0:23:14.920 --> 0:23:19.960 And then the m I R A C L miracle laser. Um. 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:23.119 It was another laser, but it was ground based using mirrors. Right. 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:26.679 It was a chemical laser. It wasn't like an uh, 0:23:27.440 --> 0:23:30.919 nuclear X ray laser. It's like they just started to 0:23:30.960 --> 0:23:34.600 try to throw cool sci fi terms of the time together, 0:23:34.680 --> 0:23:39.119 like let's make laser, but let's make it a nuclear 0:23:39.440 --> 0:23:41.879 X ray laser, and we'll shoot missiles out of this 0:23:41.960 --> 0:23:46.360 guy with tron laser Tron, let's ad that. Um. So 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:49.840 then this article doesn't really go into it. But after 0:23:50.280 --> 0:23:54.520 after some of these were kind of asked and answered. Um. 0:23:54.600 --> 0:23:57.040 Up until and even beyond the fall of the Soviet Union, 0:23:57.359 --> 0:24:00.640 the Shining Star and all this became the these things 0:24:00.720 --> 0:24:03.560 called bright pebbles. Does that ring a bell? It did 0:24:03.600 --> 0:24:05.480 for me when I ran across it, I was like, Ahi, 0:24:05.640 --> 0:24:08.760 those two words sound very familiar. So bright Pebbles was 0:24:09.240 --> 0:24:13.760