1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:02,960 Speaker 1: Hey there, it's your host ed helms. 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:03,200 Speaker 2: Here. 3 00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:06,400 Speaker 1: Real quick, before we dive into this episode, I wanted 4 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:09,479 Speaker 1: to remind you that my brand new book is coming 5 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: out on April twenty ninth. It's called Snaffo, The Definitive 6 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:17,000 Speaker 1: Guide to History's Greatest screw Ups, and you can pre 7 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: order it right now at snafudashbook dot com. Trust me, 8 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:24,600 Speaker 1: if you like this show, you're gonna love this book. 9 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:28,680 Speaker 1: It's got all the wild disasters spectacular face plants we 10 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 1: just couldn't squeeze into this podcast. And here's the kicker. 11 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:36,880 Speaker 1: I am also going on tour to celebrate that's right. 12 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: I'm coming to New York, DC, Boston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, 13 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:44,560 Speaker 1: San Francisco, and my hometown Los Angeles. So if you've 14 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: ever wanted to see me stumble through a live Q 15 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:49,600 Speaker 1: and A or dramatically read about a kiddie cat getting 16 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:54,000 Speaker 1: turned into a CIA operative, now's your chance again. Head 17 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: to Snaffo dashbook dot com to pre order the book 18 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: and check out all the tour details and day, or 19 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: just click the link in the show notes that'll work too. 20 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: Did you ever watch a movie as a kid and 21 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:13,880 Speaker 1: convince yourself that it was real that its outlandish premise 22 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:18,679 Speaker 1: could possibly come true. I know I did, and for me, 23 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:21,840 Speaker 1: one of those movies was Wargames. 24 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 3: Great to meet you, Great to meet you too. 25 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:32,120 Speaker 1: I'm ed by the way. Yeah that's Matthew Broadrick. He's 26 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:36,280 Speaker 1: a national treasure and also the star of Wargames, a 27 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 1: movie about an almost accidental nuclear war that I watched 28 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:43,560 Speaker 1: maybe one hundred times as a kid, came out in 29 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three, and it was Matthew's breakout role. 30 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 4: The fact that I had gotten the lead of a 31 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:53,960 Speaker 4: you know, studio movie was incredible, Yeah, absolutely incredible. 32 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:58,560 Speaker 1: His character was a hacker, a tech genius. David Lightman 33 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:04,480 Speaker 1: was a moister at computer games, and Matthew was great 34 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: in it. I mean, obviously, right, he's an incredible actor. 35 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:10,960 Speaker 4: But wait, now do I adjust my volume? Can you speak? 36 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:15,679 Speaker 1: You guys talking talking talking? Say? 37 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:15,959 Speaker 5: Gee? 38 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 4: No, nodding because I want to now pretend that it's working. Okay, Yeah, 39 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:21,079 Speaker 4: so it's perfect. 40 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: Matthew Broderick is clearly not a tech genius in real life, 41 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: but that's just further proof what a great actor he is. 42 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:31,640 Speaker 1: So in War Games, teenage hacker David Leitman tries to 43 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: impress a girl at school, Jennifer, played by another eighties icon, 44 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:38,720 Speaker 1: Ali Sheety. Along the way, he accidentally hacks into a 45 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: supercomputer that the US is using to game out World 46 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:45,960 Speaker 1: War three scenarios, hence wargamell. 47 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:50,960 Speaker 3: How about global thermallear. 48 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:55,079 Speaker 1: It gets misinterpreted as a real nuclear attack and almost 49 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 1: starts World War three? 50 00:02:56,639 --> 00:02:57,400 Speaker 6: Launch detiction. 51 00:02:57,560 --> 00:02:59,679 Speaker 1: We have a story launch detction. 52 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:03,440 Speaker 7: Terrifying. 53 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, I am not charmed by that. I am terrified 54 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:12,040 Speaker 1: by that. When I was nine years old, wargames really 55 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 1: captured my imagination in the sense that I became utterly 56 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:21,520 Speaker 1: convinced it was real. I even had a breakdown at 57 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: summer camp because of it. All the other kids were 58 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:28,640 Speaker 1: having a grand old time. Meanwhile, I was just terrified 59 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:31,040 Speaker 1: that at any moment we'd all die in a fiery 60 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 1: nuclear armageddon. Yeah, I guess I was a bit of 61 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 1: a wet blanket while everyone else was just trying to 62 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: get pumped up for s'mores. So why am I talking 63 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: to Matthew Broderick about wargames? After all, It's just a movie, 64 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 1: an outlandish premise, a fantasy. 65 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 2: Right. 66 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: Eventually we all grow up and realize that movies aren't real. 67 00:03:54,120 --> 00:04:03,840 Speaker 1: There are no accidental nuclear wars. Right, Well, my friends, 68 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: imagine my surprise when I learned that the premise of 69 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 1: Wargames was fucking real. Yeah, it came true only months 70 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: after the movie's release. That's right. As it turns out, 71 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:23,200 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty three, a real life military exercise, a wargame, 72 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:28,880 Speaker 1: almost started an actual nuclear war, just like Wargames. This 73 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,039 Speaker 1: exercise that almost ended at all. It goes by the 74 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 1: code name Able Archer eighty three, and that's what this 75 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: show is about. 76 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:42,760 Speaker 4: Wow, that's an amazing story. 77 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:44,720 Speaker 7: I I'm surprised. 78 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:47,159 Speaker 8: I don't know about that, but I don't think I 79 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:48,119 Speaker 8: do know about it. 80 00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:50,320 Speaker 1: Too bad they don't give out an oscar for best 81 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: nuclear war prediction. The Wargames screenwriters would have been a 82 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:58,360 Speaker 1: shoe in. It's like kind of a perfect screenplay. I 83 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 1: don't think they were too far off. When I first 84 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:05,599 Speaker 1: heard the story of Abel Archer eighty three, let's just 85 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:10,359 Speaker 1: say my childhood fears were instantly validated. Thinking back on 86 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 1: that moment at summer camp, paralyzed by the fear that 87 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,119 Speaker 1: the outlandish plot of war Games would come true, camp 88 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,360 Speaker 1: counselors hovering around me, trying to console me, saying, come on, dude, 89 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:23,320 Speaker 1: it's just a movie. Let's go canoeing. Everything's gonna be fine. Well, 90 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:27,480 Speaker 1: looking back, I realize now it was not fine. It 91 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:31,920 Speaker 1: was so incredibly not fine. They were wrong and I 92 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:34,360 Speaker 1: was right. I'd just like to say, on behalf of 93 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 1: nine year old me, I fucking told you so? Who 94 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 1: That felt good? But vindication aside, Learning this story still 95 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: leaves me a little unnerved, maybe even alarmed, Because if 96 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 1: a military exercise almost caused a nuclear war in nineteen 97 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:59,840 Speaker 1: eighty three and nobody knew about it, what a complete 98 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:07,040 Speaker 1: and utter snaffoo. Snaffoo is a military term first used 99 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:09,920 Speaker 1: by soldiers in World War Two. It's an acronym snaffho. 100 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:14,840 Speaker 1: It stands for situation normal, all fucked up, meaning this 101 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:18,480 Speaker 1: is so fucked up. But then again, isn't it always? 102 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:23,000 Speaker 1: That's what this show is about. The gas, the disasters, 103 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:27,400 Speaker 1: history's greatest screw ups. This season the story of Able 104 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:30,919 Speaker 1: Archer eighty three. It's the ultimate Cold War mystery, a 105 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:37,560 Speaker 1: stew of espionage, paranoia, shady politics, and dangerous miscalculations. Oh 106 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: and a lot of mind games. Put on your hazmat suits, listeners, 107 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:45,919 Speaker 1: I'm ed Elmes. Your host and this is Snaffo Able 108 00:06:46,040 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 1: Archer eighty three. 109 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 9: It's just this whole game of deception and count deception 110 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 9: of who can you trust? 111 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:15,600 Speaker 5: Oh wait, he's preparing a sudden. 112 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:19,559 Speaker 10: I heard a young father saying, I love my little 113 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:22,680 Speaker 10: girls more than anything, and I would rather see my 114 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:26,800 Speaker 10: little girls die now than have them grow up under communism. 115 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:29,760 Speaker 3: Really, for the first time in my life, I felt 116 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 3: like there could be nuclear war. 117 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 9: It wasn't a question of would it happen, It was 118 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:36,320 Speaker 9: a question of when was it going to happen. 119 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 1: We were preparing to fight armageddon. 120 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 9: That's what we're. 121 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:41,040 Speaker 1: Told, That's what we believed. 122 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:43,240 Speaker 9: We were training to fight the end of the world. 123 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:53,840 Speaker 6: It was a week just like every other week. Abral 124 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:56,920 Speaker 6: Archer eighty three was not anything out of the ordinary. 125 00:07:57,160 --> 00:07:59,640 Speaker 1: This is Jean Gay. He was a participant in the 126 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:03,320 Speaker 1: nineteen Able Archer wargame. Gene like a lot of men 127 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:06,280 Speaker 1: who participated in Able Archer that year recall it the 128 00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:09,000 Speaker 1: same way, which is to say, they don't really recall 129 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 1: much at all. 130 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:14,200 Speaker 2: Nothing to me from that exercise at the time. You know, 131 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:15,120 Speaker 2: jumped out. 132 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:18,880 Speaker 1: That's Colonel Spike Calendar and he says the same thing Nope, 133 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: nothing of note to these men. That week in early 134 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:25,760 Speaker 1: November nineteen eighty three was just a week like any 135 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 1: other week, just another week of standard military exercises, practicing 136 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:33,680 Speaker 1: how to fight the end of the world as one does. 137 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:37,800 Speaker 2: The whole purpose of able Archer was the emphasis on 138 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 2: the practice of the nuclear weapons release for caizures. 139 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: Able Archer was a NATO exercise in November of nineteen 140 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:47,520 Speaker 1: eighty three. The Able Archer players sat in a bunker 141 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:51,160 Speaker 1: in Belgium practicing how if it came to it, they'd 142 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:55,320 Speaker 1: fight a nuclear war against the Soviet Union. It's like 143 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:57,840 Speaker 1: a soccer team doing drills, but instead of training for 144 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:01,440 Speaker 1: a game, they're training for armageddon, which, like a soccer game, 145 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:03,880 Speaker 1: you can't use your hands because they got blown off. 146 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:08,679 Speaker 2: The whole idea was if you ever had to do it, 147 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 2: you know you didn't want to do it for the 148 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:11,319 Speaker 2: first time. 149 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:14,679 Speaker 1: When Spike says do it, he's referring to the task 150 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:18,760 Speaker 1: of launching planet destroying weapons. It's an example of how 151 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: military professionals are weirdly cavalier when they're talking about their work. 152 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:27,040 Speaker 1: It's kind of shocking how something so gnarly can sound 153 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:27,960 Speaker 1: so routine. 154 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:31,880 Speaker 2: How do you look at what the requirements truly are, 155 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:34,720 Speaker 2: you know, for those weapons systems and the numbers of them. 156 00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:37,000 Speaker 2: So it would be a matter of being counting and 157 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:39,839 Speaker 2: in some respects if you have a Soviet division, what 158 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:44,440 Speaker 2: is the number of weapons that might be required to 159 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:48,360 Speaker 2: reduce the effectiveness of that division to where it was 160 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:49,920 Speaker 2: no longer military capable? 161 00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:55,079 Speaker 1: See what I mean? My point is this, to men 162 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 1: like Gene and Spike, there was nothing exceptional about gaming 163 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 1: out of fictional war during a b large It was routine. 164 00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 1: But a few decades later Gene and Spike would learn 165 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:12,720 Speaker 1: that Able Archer eighty three was anything but routine. 166 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:15,719 Speaker 2: I was in my own little world. I hate to 167 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:18,280 Speaker 2: use the word oblivious, but I've used that word before. 168 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:21,400 Speaker 6: It was many years later they found out about it, 169 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:24,600 Speaker 6: that anything other than the exercise took place in the 170 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 6: real world situation that occurred at during that time. I 171 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:29,760 Speaker 6: was not aware of that until years afterwards. 172 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:34,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, I never heard of anything more about this exercise 173 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:37,400 Speaker 2: until what twenty or twenty five years later. 174 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:42,960 Speaker 1: What Gene and Spike would come to learn is that 175 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:45,360 Speaker 1: while they were sitting in their bunker back in nineteen 176 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:48,599 Speaker 1: eighty three rehearsing the end of the world missiles to 177 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:53,720 Speaker 1: strike targets in Moscow. How the Soviets were listening, and 178 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:56,839 Speaker 1: they seemed to be convinced it was not a rehearsal 179 00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 1: at all. Soviet missile commanders were placed on high a. 180 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 1: Soviet leaders retreated to their bunkers, fingers hovering over the 181 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 1: proverbial big red button, and NATO had no idea. 182 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:15,000 Speaker 9: I mean, it is a miracle. We did not all die, 183 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:18,360 Speaker 9: Like it's just goofy. 184 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:21,080 Speaker 1: This is Jeffrey Lewis. He's an expert on nuclear history 185 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:23,959 Speaker 1: and geopolitics, and he finds the whole story of Able Archer, 186 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,840 Speaker 1: what he calls the war Scare to be sort of funny. 187 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:31,000 Speaker 9: Almost all of the war scare is totally self inflicted, 188 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:33,400 Speaker 9: which makes it like really darkly comic. 189 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:36,160 Speaker 1: I have to agree. There's an old saying that tragedy 190 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 1: plus time equals comedy. Well, if that's true, then a 191 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:42,439 Speaker 1: story about a nuclear near miss plus about forty years 192 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:45,079 Speaker 1: should be fucking hilarious. 193 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:47,240 Speaker 9: Because if you step back, it sounds crazy, right, It 194 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:49,720 Speaker 9: sounds crazy that we could have had a serious nuclear 195 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:52,560 Speaker 9: crisis that nobody knew about. Like that's nuts. 196 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:56,720 Speaker 1: It is nuts. Jeffrey because it's not just that able 197 00:11:56,840 --> 00:11:59,839 Speaker 1: archer participants like Gene and Spike didn't know that a 198 00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:03,640 Speaker 1: newnuclear crisis was unfolding under their noses. No one knew. 199 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 1: Let that sink in for a second. If it's possible 200 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: that a nuclear crisis could unfold right under our noses, 201 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:15,800 Speaker 1: that we were in danger without knowing it, does that 202 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:21,520 Speaker 1: mean it's still possible? All right, let's set the stage 203 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:24,560 Speaker 1: a little bit. It's the nineteen eighties. There was certainly 204 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:29,120 Speaker 1: a general and very pervasive anxiety about nuclear weapons. Pretty 205 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:31,840 Speaker 1: Much everywhere you looked, you'd find nuclear paranoia. It wasn't 206 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:38,440 Speaker 1: just wargames. It was all over pop culture. This delightful 207 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:41,360 Speaker 1: little number is ninety nine Loft Balloons by Nina. It's 208 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:45,080 Speaker 1: about one hundred red balloons accidentally inciting a nuclear war. 209 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:49,320 Speaker 1: Kind of heavy for a kitchy pop hit. The nineteen 210 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:53,920 Speaker 1: eighty three Bond film had a nuclear plot. The doctor 211 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:55,240 Speaker 1: Seuss was feeling. 212 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:58,080 Speaker 3: The heat this bomb on the zekes just as fast 213 00:12:58,080 --> 00:12:58,680 Speaker 3: as you can. 214 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:07,040 Speaker 1: Evening chimed in, I love that shit personally, I love 215 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:10,080 Speaker 1: that song, and I just love that Sting threw his 216 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:14,000 Speaker 1: hat right in the middle of an international conflict. Anyway, 217 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:16,920 Speaker 1: when it comes to examples of nuclear anxiety in nineteen 218 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:21,000 Speaker 1: eighty three pop culture, there's actually one that stands above 219 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:24,440 Speaker 1: all the rest. It was just a made for TV movie, 220 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:29,600 Speaker 1: but it became a cultural event and it would actually 221 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:31,840 Speaker 1: play a role in our Cold War mystery. 222 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:34,760 Speaker 11: It was a movie like no other movie, and it 223 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:37,000 Speaker 11: had a profound impact on New York. 224 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:37,840 Speaker 3: That's story. 225 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:40,960 Speaker 11: Next, we'll hear from people who like you watch the 226 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:42,439 Speaker 11: Ultimate Disaster. 227 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:45,880 Speaker 1: Movie the day after, a movie that would scare the 228 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:48,040 Speaker 1: living shit out of America. 229 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:51,640 Speaker 7: More than seven hundred people packed Riverside Church tonight to 230 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:52,720 Speaker 7: watch the day after. 231 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:55,440 Speaker 3: Many said they came here because they were afraid to 232 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:56,319 Speaker 3: watch it alone. 233 00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 1: Everyone, and by everyone, I mean a hundred million people, 234 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:04,360 Speaker 1: almost half the US population at the time, gathered around 235 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:07,560 Speaker 1: their TVs on the evening of November twentieth, nineteen eighty three, 236 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:10,280 Speaker 1: and tuned into ABC to watch it. 237 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 11: Before the movie begins, I would like to caution parents 238 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:18,559 Speaker 11: about the graphic depiction of nuclear explosions and then devastating 239 00:14:18,559 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 11: effects in a moment. 240 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:23,840 Speaker 1: The day after that, gather around kids, time to fill 241 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:28,239 Speaker 1: your innocent little heads with deep, reverberating drama. Past the popcorn. 242 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:32,920 Speaker 8: I tried to do my part in making people keenly 243 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:36,040 Speaker 8: aware of what the real consequences would be. 244 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:40,000 Speaker 1: This is Ed Hume, he wrote the day after. The 245 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 1: film is set at the border of Kansas and Missouri. 246 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:45,800 Speaker 1: That's where the US nuclear missile silos are. The main 247 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:49,280 Speaker 1: characters are average townspeople in the American heartland. 248 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:52,880 Speaker 8: A bunch of people living in the Midwest doing ordinary things. 249 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:56,200 Speaker 1: At first, the whole nuclear war thing isn't really front 250 00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:58,880 Speaker 1: and center. It just kind of lurks in the periphery. 251 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:01,960 Speaker 1: But even as it creeps in, the characters can't accept 252 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:02,440 Speaker 1: their fate. 253 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 8: What was that. There's one saying where a woman is 254 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:09,880 Speaker 8: so in denial that she's running around making beds as 255 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:11,920 Speaker 8: they know that missiles are being launched. 256 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:13,120 Speaker 5: Don't bother with the. 257 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:16,280 Speaker 8: Bed just now, even we've got to get down below. Listen, 258 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:18,040 Speaker 8: those missiles have all gone off. 259 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:32,080 Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, Wow, she really wants to make those beds. 260 00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:33,200 Speaker 8: And then it happens. 261 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:43,360 Speaker 1: It happens, the heartland is evaporated. The rest of the 262 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:47,600 Speaker 1: film is stomach churning. To put it lightly, It showed 263 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:51,320 Speaker 1: what a nuclear war would actually look like. Flashes of light, 264 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:57,240 Speaker 1: lives instantaneously incinerated. But the whole explosion part isn't the 265 00:15:57,280 --> 00:15:59,600 Speaker 1: worst of it, because you get to see what happens 266 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:05,160 Speaker 1: the day after nuclear fallout, radiation, poisoning, blistering skin and 267 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:10,760 Speaker 1: dying organs, piles of bodies and rubble, looting, hoarding, and 268 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:14,280 Speaker 1: everyday Americans turning on each other. I mean, all jokes aside, 269 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:16,200 Speaker 1: this is grim fucking stuff. 270 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:21,760 Speaker 8: The general pabla, they were pardon my language, what they 271 00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:22,760 Speaker 8: were scared of shutless. 272 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 10: I for one, felt that it was just devastating. 273 00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:30,880 Speaker 5: Like every horror story you've ever read. Roamed to one story. 274 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:32,560 Speaker 3: We got a glimpse of what is really at stake 275 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:34,440 Speaker 3: in a nuclear war. 276 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:38,080 Speaker 5: I just want to go die, went to blast and 277 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:40,000 Speaker 5: not have to live and start all over again. 278 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:44,400 Speaker 1: Oh okay, didn't heed the parental advisory. This is how 279 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:54,840 Speaker 1: that clip makes me feel. Okay. So yeah, in nineteen 280 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:58,840 Speaker 1: eighty three, there was a general sense of nuclear doom. Hell, 281 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:01,000 Speaker 1: it's why I had a mental break down at summer camp. 282 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 1: But we didn't know that there was a specific crisis 283 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:08,200 Speaker 1: to be afraid of. We didn't know that we might 284 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 1: have almost had a nuclear war. During NATO's annual able 285 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:16,320 Speaker 1: archer exercise. So then the question becomes why. 286 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:20,760 Speaker 11: Not there is and you probably need it. About now, 287 00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:22,760 Speaker 11: there is some good news. 288 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:26,200 Speaker 1: This is Ted Copple from Nightline. He's hosting a live 289 00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:28,760 Speaker 1: panel about the day after right after the movie aired. 290 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:31,159 Speaker 11: If you can take a quick look out the window, 291 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:32,560 Speaker 11: it's all still there. 292 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:39,600 Speaker 1: Wow, deeply reassuring Ted. Anyway, Celebrity scientist Carl Sagan was there, 293 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:42,760 Speaker 1: telling an already nauseous audience that he thought the film's 294 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:46,080 Speaker 1: portrayal of nuclear war was actually not as bad as 295 00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:49,720 Speaker 1: it would be if it really happened. Yeh boy. Henry 296 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:52,639 Speaker 1: Kissinger was there too, probably talking about feasting on the 297 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:56,800 Speaker 1: souls of innocent children or something, but before the panel began. 298 00:17:56,800 --> 00:18:00,240 Speaker 11: Joining us live from his home in suburban Washington is 299 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:02,480 Speaker 11: the Secretary of State, mister George Schultz. 300 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:06,920 Speaker 1: Ted Copple brings out US Secretary of State George Schultz, 301 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:11,120 Speaker 1: President Reagan's right hand man. He was a serious man, 302 00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:15,360 Speaker 1: loyal to the president, famously bragged about enjoying staring contests 303 00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:19,960 Speaker 1: with the Soviets, waiting for them to blink, comforting and so. 304 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 1: Mere minutes after the American public watched this horrifying film, 305 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:26,000 Speaker 1: hearts still in their stomachs. The man who would be 306 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:29,280 Speaker 1: standing next to the button pusher in chief answers the 307 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:33,200 Speaker 1: burning question at the front of every viewer's mind. 308 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:36,200 Speaker 11: The future as we've just viewed it tonight. Is that 309 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:38,479 Speaker 11: the future as it will be, or only the future 310 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:39,240 Speaker 11: as it may be? 311 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:47,280 Speaker 7: Neither that is not the future at all. The film 312 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:51,800 Speaker 7: is a vivid and dramatic portrayal of the fact that 313 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:55,720 Speaker 7: nuclear war is simply not acceptable, and that fact and 314 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:58,720 Speaker 7: the realization of it has been the policy of the 315 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:03,399 Speaker 7: United States for decades now, the successful policy of the 316 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:04,959 Speaker 7: United States. 317 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:10,640 Speaker 1: If you watch the clip, George Schultz is shifty as hell. 318 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,320 Speaker 1: His eyes keep flickering just to the right of the 319 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:16,160 Speaker 1: camera and then back again, like he's reading Q cards. 320 00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:22,080 Speaker 1: He looks scared. Ted Season's journalist that he is smells 321 00:19:22,119 --> 00:19:26,760 Speaker 1: a little bullshit, he presses George. 322 00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 11: Mister Schultz, that is the answer of a Secretary of 323 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:31,360 Speaker 11: State to a reporter. And that's fair enough, because that's 324 00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:35,199 Speaker 11: what you and I, respectively are. But what would a 325 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:37,240 Speaker 11: George Schultz who is talking to a member of his 326 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:40,680 Speaker 11: family say in response to the same question, same answer, Well, 327 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:42,199 Speaker 11: I would give the same answer. 328 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:45,280 Speaker 1: I'll tell you why I think George is nervous. It's 329 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:49,000 Speaker 1: because eleven days before this interview able Archer eighty three 330 00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:53,840 Speaker 1: could have caused a nuclear war. A man in Schultz's 331 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:56,800 Speaker 1: position would have known about that, right. Surely he was 332 00:19:56,840 --> 00:19:59,000 Speaker 1: shitting his slacks for the past eleven days trying to 333 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,680 Speaker 1: figure out how such a colossal fuck up could have happened. 334 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:07,040 Speaker 1: Now would be a great time to come clean, to say, yeah, 335 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:10,400 Speaker 1: we're gonna shake things up with our nuclear policy, because 336 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:15,919 Speaker 1: the movie's right, this is scary shit. And yet, after 337 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:20,200 Speaker 1: watching the day after, George Schultz, Secretary of State, assures 338 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:24,240 Speaker 1: the American public that the administration status quo is effective 339 00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:29,679 Speaker 1: in preventing nuclear war. In eleven days after a nuclear war. 340 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:42,560 Speaker 9: Scare, it's a very different kind of crisis because it's 341 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:44,800 Speaker 9: so clumsy. 342 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 1: Here's Jeffrey Lewis again. 343 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:49,480 Speaker 9: You know, this is more like two drunks in a 344 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:54,720 Speaker 9: bar circling one another. And it's not so much that 345 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:58,119 Speaker 9: anybody would deliberately choose to start the war. It's just 346 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:00,359 Speaker 9: that things would spiral out of control. 347 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:03,720 Speaker 1: The two drunks here are, of course, the United States 348 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:08,119 Speaker 1: and the Soviet Union their drink bombs. And I'm not 349 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:11,159 Speaker 1: talking Jaeger. Here's the part of the show where I 350 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:13,200 Speaker 1: give you a crash course on the Cold War. Get 351 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:16,600 Speaker 1: out your pencils, kids, Welcome to Arms Race one oh one. 352 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:22,800 Speaker 11: An ADAM bomb destroys or injures in three ways by blast, heat, 353 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:24,000 Speaker 11: and radioactivity. 354 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,359 Speaker 1: The og atomic bomb was invented by the Americans in 355 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:31,400 Speaker 1: the forties, you know, the one Hiroshima, Nagasaki. It only 356 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:34,119 Speaker 1: took the Soviets five years to figure it out for themselves, 357 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:36,600 Speaker 1: and once they had the bomb too, it began a 358 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 1: decades long race for bigger and better death machines. 359 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:43,640 Speaker 9: The fun thing about the Cold War is that there 360 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:49,280 Speaker 9: were a huge variety of nuclear weapons and nuclear yields. 361 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:51,840 Speaker 1: Jeffrey and I have very different definitions of fun. 362 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:54,200 Speaker 9: So pretty soon after the end of World War II, 363 00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:58,800 Speaker 9: the United States developed a much more powerful nuclear weapon 364 00:21:59,119 --> 00:22:01,720 Speaker 9: than even the sea the destroyers that we saw dropped 365 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:05,520 Speaker 9: on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and these were called therma nuclear weapons. 366 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:08,919 Speaker 1: This is the early fifties. A thermonuclear weapon uses the 367 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:12,400 Speaker 1: radiation from the initial blast to ignite an even bigger blast, 368 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:15,640 Speaker 1: a bomb within a bomb. The result is a warhead 369 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,399 Speaker 1: that's about the same size as the atom bomb, but 370 00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:23,119 Speaker 1: way more destructive, like a million tons of explosive power 371 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:27,160 Speaker 1: instead of ten thousand. In other words, it was economical 372 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:31,439 Speaker 1: a bigger catastrophe for a smaller cost. You can't argue 373 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:32,320 Speaker 1: with savings like that. 374 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:36,879 Speaker 9: Once the United States, followed by other countries, developed therm 375 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:40,560 Speaker 9: nuclear weapons, there was no limit to how large a 376 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:44,520 Speaker 9: nuclear weapon one could make. The freeze that came to 377 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:47,439 Speaker 9: be used about the amount of nuclear destructive power was 378 00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:50,920 Speaker 9: overkill because each side was worried that the other side 379 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:53,200 Speaker 9: would strike them first, so they needed to have backups 380 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:56,960 Speaker 9: and redundancy and more than you needed. And so in 381 00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:01,240 Speaker 9: practice what that led to was each side having the 382 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:05,000 Speaker 9: capacity to destroy the other many, many times over, to 383 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:09,240 Speaker 9: make the rubble bounce. In one particular phrase. 384 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:12,280 Speaker 1: Back in the sixties, the US had enough nuclear weapons 385 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:16,080 Speaker 1: to destroy the Soviet Union fifty times over, you know, 386 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,240 Speaker 1: just in case some little cockroach escaped the first forty 387 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:23,639 Speaker 1: nine blasts, which set the table quite nicely for this. 388 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:27,000 Speaker 7: Good evening, my fellow citizens. 389 00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 1: That's John F. Kennedy back in nineteen sixty two telling 390 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:32,320 Speaker 1: the world in a televised speech from the White House 391 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:37,440 Speaker 1: that a nuclear crisis was unfolding in Cuba. US biplanes 392 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:40,240 Speaker 1: had discovered that the Soviet Union was building nuclear missile 393 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:43,480 Speaker 1: sites on the Caribbean island nation, a little too close 394 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:44,920 Speaker 1: to the United States for comfort. 395 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:48,840 Speaker 7: The purpose of these bases can be none other than 396 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:53,240 Speaker 7: to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere. 397 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 1: The US Navy set up a blockade, trying to prevent 398 00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:59,959 Speaker 1: any Soviet ships from bringing their nukes anywhere near the island. 399 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:04,200 Speaker 1: The Soviet Chips approached the blockade nuclear weapons in tow 400 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:09,679 Speaker 1: It was a full fledged nuclear standoff. The news coverage 401 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:12,560 Speaker 1: of the Cuban missile crisis was impossible to ignore. A 402 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 1: major world event became television drama. For thirteen days, Americans 403 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:23,080 Speaker 1: sat glued to their televisions until finally it was over. 404 00:24:24,119 --> 00:24:27,439 Speaker 11: Under aerial surveillance, the missiles that had threatened the United 405 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:29,679 Speaker 11: States went back where they came from. 406 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:34,320 Speaker 1: Everyone breathed a sigh of Marlborough smoke filled relief. And 407 00:24:34,359 --> 00:24:37,760 Speaker 1: did we learn our lesson? Did we scale down operations 408 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:43,280 Speaker 1: at the bomb factory and literally cool our jets? No, No, 409 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:47,920 Speaker 1: my dear listener, of course we didn't. In the late 410 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:51,000 Speaker 1: sixties and seventies, the US would build more weapons. The 411 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:54,479 Speaker 1: Soviets would build a lot more weapons, We'd get rid 412 00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:56,800 Speaker 1: of some and then build some more. By the early 413 00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:00,879 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties, our nuclear fruit basket contained big nukes, small nukes, 414 00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:02,560 Speaker 1: extremely precise nukes. 415 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:06,440 Speaker 9: And so the question naturally arises, like, why the hell 416 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:08,680 Speaker 9: did we do that? And I think the answer lies 417 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:10,480 Speaker 9: in the fact that we didn't have a better idea. 418 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:12,719 Speaker 9: I'm just going to build as many nuclear weapons as 419 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:14,280 Speaker 9: I can to keep the bad guys away from me. 420 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:15,960 Speaker 9: How am I going to think about it any more 421 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:21,119 Speaker 9: than that? And that's a very powerful, simple idea, wrong 422 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:25,239 Speaker 9: but incredibly powerful. And it's how you end up with 423 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:28,520 Speaker 9: two countries with tens of thousands of nuclear weapons pointed 424 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:31,600 Speaker 9: at each other, ready on a moment's notice to end 425 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,879 Speaker 9: civilization as we know it. You know, over who controls Berlin, 426 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:38,719 Speaker 9: which admittedly is a very nice city. 427 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:44,760 Speaker 1: And that just about sums up that successful nuclear policy 428 00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:47,119 Speaker 1: George Schultz was talking about earlier. 429 00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:49,360 Speaker 7: The successful policy of the United States. 430 00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:53,199 Speaker 1: Each side made a gamble that if they could just 431 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:57,320 Speaker 1: build enough weapons, their adversary wouldn't dare test them, so 432 00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:00,760 Speaker 1: they didn't need diplomacy. They were bound by the contract 433 00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:08,439 Speaker 1: of mutually assured destruction. It was a horrific game of 434 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:12,000 Speaker 1: nuclear chicken, and it would lead right to Able Archer 435 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:15,000 Speaker 1: eighty three, which some say is the closest we came 436 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:18,199 Speaker 1: to a nuclear war since the Cuban Missile crisis. But 437 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,600 Speaker 1: here's the thing. Able Archer isn't anything like the Cuban 438 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:26,320 Speaker 1: missile crisis. In fact, it's not like most crises we've experienced, 439 00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:29,080 Speaker 1: not just because no one knew about it, but because 440 00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:34,000 Speaker 1: it was completely unintentional, a mistake. It's not like I 441 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:38,320 Speaker 1: don't know the Vietnam War or Russia's insane invasion of Ukraine. Today, 442 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:43,439 Speaker 1: during Able Archer, two countries with absolutely no desire to 443 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:47,480 Speaker 1: get into a nuclear conflict may have almost started one 444 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:49,640 Speaker 1: in spite of themselves. 445 00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:54,320 Speaker 9: If the Reagan administration nearly sleepwalked into a nuclear war, 446 00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:57,440 Speaker 9: that suggests those people shouldn't be let anywhere near positions 447 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,879 Speaker 9: of power. And if the intelligence community the fact that 448 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:04,080 Speaker 9: the Reagan administration was sleepwalking toward nuclear war, that suggests 449 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:05,560 Speaker 9: we need different analysts. 450 00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:10,800 Speaker 1: If all that's true, then it makes perfect sense the 451 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: Reagan administration would not want to leak a snaffoo this massive, 452 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:19,480 Speaker 1: so the public would never hear about Abel Archer eighty three. Instead, 453 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:21,879 Speaker 1: it would become nothing more than a Cold War rumor, 454 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:25,240 Speaker 1: a myth only whispered about in the back hallways of 455 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:28,760 Speaker 1: the Pentagon. And it might have stayed that way if 456 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:31,000 Speaker 1: it wasn't for Nate Jones. 457 00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:35,800 Speaker 3: Walking through. 458 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:36,719 Speaker 1: This is the vault. 459 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:39,920 Speaker 3: It really looks like the warehouse at the end of Indiana. 460 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,720 Speaker 3: Jones of just boxes, boxes, boxes. Sometimes I used to 461 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:44,960 Speaker 3: come here and just do a little bit of work 462 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:48,920 Speaker 3: because the atmosphere of thousands of boxes looming over and 463 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:49,760 Speaker 3: me helps me work. 464 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:53,439 Speaker 1: This is Nate Jones, an historian. Actually he's really more 465 00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:57,560 Speaker 1: of a sleuth, like a history detective who has dedicated 466 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:01,280 Speaker 1: almost twenty years of his career to you uncovering what 467 00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:05,400 Speaker 1: the hell really happened during Able Archer eighty three. 468 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:09,199 Speaker 3: My desk is overrun with Foyer requests. It looks like 469 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:13,440 Speaker 3: at least ten thousand pages of Foyer requests and responses. 470 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:18,040 Speaker 3: So it's definitely a tree unfriendly business. But the government 471 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:20,040 Speaker 3: works on paper, so we got to work on paper. 472 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:24,240 Speaker 1: This FOYA that Nate is talking about, like everything in government, 473 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:28,000 Speaker 1: it's an acronym. It stands for the Freedom of Information Act. 474 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:30,720 Speaker 1: And if you can't tell it has dominated his life 475 00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:34,199 Speaker 1: for the past decade. For ten years, Nate worked at 476 00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:37,120 Speaker 1: the National Security Archive, where he and his colleagues used 477 00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:40,800 Speaker 1: the Freedom of Information Act to pry classified information about 478 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:44,960 Speaker 1: able Archer eighty three out of the government's clause. I 479 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:48,080 Speaker 1: like to picture them wrestling with a very stubborn bald eagle. 480 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:52,040 Speaker 1: But let's not get ahead of ourselves. At one point 481 00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:54,280 Speaker 1: in time, Nate was like most people. He didn't know 482 00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:57,000 Speaker 1: about Able Archer eighty three until one day in two 483 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:59,240 Speaker 1: thousand and four, a professor of his uttered a few 484 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:04,080 Speaker 1: words that totally changed the course of his life. He said, Hey, Nate, 485 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:06,240 Speaker 1: I heard about this nuclear fuck up in nineteen eighty 486 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:09,040 Speaker 1: three called Able Archer. Why don't you look into it? 487 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:11,880 Speaker 3: And he said, I really think this is an unsolved 488 00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:14,160 Speaker 3: mystery of the Cold War. And I was pretty hooked 489 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:14,600 Speaker 3: right there. 490 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:17,760 Speaker 1: Like me, Nate heard about the mysterious able Archer eighty 491 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:21,880 Speaker 1: three story and asked himself, why doesn't anyone know about it? 492 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:25,640 Speaker 1: If we narrowly escaped nuclear armageddon, shouldn't there be a 493 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:29,000 Speaker 1: national holiday or something? We should have Able Archer Day, 494 00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:32,760 Speaker 1: a day that commemorates our wonderful avoidance of nuclear annihilation. 495 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:35,320 Speaker 1: I'm not just saying this because I want an extra 496 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:39,959 Speaker 1: Monday off work, not dying that's caused for celebration. All 497 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:44,360 Speaker 1: jokes aside. Nate was seriously concerned. I mean, if something 498 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:47,720 Speaker 1: like able Archer can happen, what does that say about 499 00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:53,959 Speaker 1: how precarious our situation really is? Is the world safe? 500 00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:57,400 Speaker 1: One thing is clear. If we're going to learn anything 501 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:01,120 Speaker 1: from this, we got to know exactly what happened, Thank 502 00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:05,680 Speaker 1: god for Nate Jones. At first, there just wasn't much 503 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:08,440 Speaker 1: out there as far as sources go. Anybody who knew 504 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 1: the details of the crisis wasn't talking. There were a 505 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:13,560 Speaker 1: few mentions of a nineteen eighty three crisis, and various 506 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:16,840 Speaker 1: memoirs from retired politicians and so forth, but it was 507 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:20,080 Speaker 1: also vague. I'll let Nate paraphrase. 508 00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:22,800 Speaker 3: We're not exactly sure, but it was a very tense 509 00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:25,200 Speaker 3: situation and we were worried. 510 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:29,200 Speaker 1: There was only one primary source available that even mentioned 511 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:32,600 Speaker 1: Able Archer eighty three by name, a CIA document written 512 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:33,920 Speaker 1: shortly after it happened. 513 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:42,960 Speaker 3: So here we have so this is implications of recent 514 00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:48,320 Speaker 3: Soviet military political activities, and this is the first CIA 515 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:51,160 Speaker 3: report on what happened during the war scand what happened 516 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:52,080 Speaker 3: during n Able Archer. 517 00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:55,160 Speaker 1: This document is a crucial piece of the Able Archer 518 00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:57,880 Speaker 1: puzzle because it reveals what the CIA thought about the 519 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:01,480 Speaker 1: crisis at the time, and it provides a hint as 520 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:05,640 Speaker 1: to why the public wouldn't learn about it until decades later. 521 00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:09,440 Speaker 1: Classic CIA bullshit. I mean, they still haven't told us 522 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:13,800 Speaker 1: why they killed Kennedy. It was written in May of 523 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:17,800 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four, six months after Able Archer, and it says, yeah, 524 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:20,840 Speaker 1: during the Able Archer eighty three exercise, it sort of 525 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:23,520 Speaker 1: looked like the Soviets were getting battle. 526 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:27,200 Speaker 3: Ready, and it listed all these alarming things. But it 527 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:30,920 Speaker 3: came to the conclusion that quote, we believe strongly that 528 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:34,280 Speaker 3: Soviet actions are not inspired and Soviet leaders do not 529 00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:38,280 Speaker 3: perceive a genuine danger of imminent conflict or confrontation with 530 00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:39,120 Speaker 3: the United States. 531 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:42,440 Speaker 1: The report says, yeah, sure it looks scary, but in hindsight, 532 00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:44,920 Speaker 1: we don't think the Soviets were actually gonna do anything. 533 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:48,360 Speaker 3: So the conclusion was that the war scare is not real. 534 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,080 Speaker 1: That's right. The reason nobody knows about the Able Archer 535 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:56,920 Speaker 1: war scare is because for decades the CIA would deny 536 00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:01,680 Speaker 1: that anything dangerous happened during that exercise, but rumors still 537 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:05,360 Speaker 1: swirled in the intelligence community. Maybe there was more to 538 00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:09,520 Speaker 1: the story, which you've probably guessed because there's a bunch 539 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:13,920 Speaker 1: more episodes left in this podcast. Nate Jones, fresh out 540 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,760 Speaker 1: of college, had a hunch that he could piece together 541 00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:20,280 Speaker 1: the truth about Able Archer given access to the right records. 542 00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:23,320 Speaker 3: We couldn't really tell a good history without the records, 543 00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:25,320 Speaker 3: and we couldn't get the good records without a fight 544 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:26,200 Speaker 3: against the government. 545 00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:33,360 Speaker 1: Oh it's on now, might be a good time to 546 00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:35,200 Speaker 1: introduce another main character. 547 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:39,840 Speaker 10: I don't know whether you know it or not, but 548 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:43,400 Speaker 10: I have a new hobby. I am collecting stories. 549 00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:46,600 Speaker 1: Ronald Wilson Reagan, the man knew the power of a 550 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:49,920 Speaker 1: good anecdote. I mean, the guy could really spin a yarn. 551 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,360 Speaker 10: But I remember the story of a fellow, which makes 552 00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:55,280 Speaker 10: me think of a story. Everything makes me think of 553 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:57,880 Speaker 10: a story. I wanted to tell a story, whether anything 554 00:32:57,960 --> 00:32:58,800 Speaker 10: reminded me or not. 555 00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:03,800 Speaker 1: He also famously loved movies. No surprise there. He was 556 00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 1: a movie star. Only president ever to make a movie 557 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:09,160 Speaker 1: with a chimp. To be fair, Calvin Coolidge was in 558 00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:11,160 Speaker 1: a play with a baboon once, but it's not the 559 00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:14,120 Speaker 1: same thing, and it's also not true. Where was I? 560 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:18,400 Speaker 1: Reagan hosted regular screenings at Camp David throughout his presidency. 561 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:21,040 Speaker 1: In fact, he loved movies so much he used to 562 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:27,040 Speaker 1: write film reviews in his diary Saturday, February fourteenth, nine 563 00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:31,240 Speaker 1: to five. Funny, but one scene made me mad, A 564 00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:34,600 Speaker 1: truly funny scene. If the three gals had played getting drunk, 565 00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:38,600 Speaker 1: but no, they had to get stoned on pot. It 566 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:41,760 Speaker 1: was an endorsement of pot smoking for any young person 567 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:46,560 Speaker 1: who sees the picture. Yeah, so that's actually a totally 568 00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:50,280 Speaker 1: real Ronald Reagan diary entry. I shit you not. The 569 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:54,200 Speaker 1: man took movies very seriously and really overestimated the influence 570 00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:59,520 Speaker 1: of a stoned Dolly parton Ronald Reagan's presidency was like 571 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:02,440 Speaker 1: the plot a movie, and he was the hero, an 572 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:05,719 Speaker 1: American cowboy with a white hat, fighting his nemesis, the 573 00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:10,160 Speaker 1: evil Communist menace. And he played the part beautifully. 574 00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:13,680 Speaker 10: When action is called for, we're taking it. Our response 575 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:18,000 Speaker 10: can make the difference between peaceful change or disorder in violence. 576 00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:21,440 Speaker 1: In fact, he played the part so well that he 577 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:24,879 Speaker 1: may have pushed it a little too far. Now if 578 00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:27,240 Speaker 1: you ask just about anybody how the Cold War ended, 579 00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:30,520 Speaker 1: you'll get one of two answers. Either A. Ronald Reagan 580 00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:33,160 Speaker 1: was strong, showed those Soviets who was boss and they 581 00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:36,840 Speaker 1: backed down. Or B. Reagan was just lucky enough to 582 00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:38,600 Speaker 1: be the guy sitting in the White House when a 583 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:42,040 Speaker 1: young Soviet leader stepped in and reformed the Joint. But 584 00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:45,160 Speaker 1: what if there was an entirely different reason the Cold 585 00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:49,759 Speaker 1: War ended? What if the Cold War really ended because 586 00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:51,040 Speaker 1: of Abel Archer. 587 00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:58,520 Speaker 5: He was Ronald evil Empire. Reagan talked a tough game 588 00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:01,120 Speaker 5: against the Soviets, engaged a military build up. 589 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:04,200 Speaker 1: Meet Beth Fischer. She's an historian and author of a 590 00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:06,840 Speaker 1: book called The Reagan Reversal, where she writes about a 591 00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:10,840 Speaker 1: drastic shift in Ronald Reagan's attitude towards the Soviet Union 592 00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:15,640 Speaker 1: and listeners. That shift has very interesting timing. 593 00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:19,000 Speaker 5: I was doing my doctoral research and it was on 594 00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:21,480 Speaker 5: US foreign policy, and I was going through a lot 595 00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:25,800 Speaker 5: of speeches from the Reagan administration from the early eighties. 596 00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:29,360 Speaker 1: Beth says that Reagan's speeches were pretty consistent from nineteen 597 00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:32,640 Speaker 1: eighty one to about October thirty first, nineteen eighty three, 598 00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:34,440 Speaker 1: just before able Archer. 599 00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:39,000 Speaker 5: The Reagan administration was pretty confrontational. They charged that the 600 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:42,719 Speaker 5: Soviet Union was immoral, they lied, they cheat, They were 601 00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:46,600 Speaker 5: the greatest source of international insecurity. 602 00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:49,920 Speaker 10: One of a society which wantonly disregards individual rights and 603 00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:53,440 Speaker 10: the value of human life, and seeks constantly to expand 604 00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:54,760 Speaker 10: and dominate other nations. 605 00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:59,759 Speaker 5: The next major speech came on January sixteenth, nineteen eighty four. 606 00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:04,120 Speaker 1: In his first major speech since Able Archer, Ronald Reagan 607 00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:07,319 Speaker 1: steps on stage and the American public meets a very 608 00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:08,920 Speaker 1: new president. 609 00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:14,239 Speaker 10: During these first days of nineteen eighty four, I would 610 00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:15,880 Speaker 10: like to share with you and the people of the 611 00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:19,040 Speaker 10: world my thoughts on a subject of great importance to 612 00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:23,520 Speaker 10: the cause of peace, relations between the United States and 613 00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:27,240 Speaker 10: the Soviet Union. Just suppose with me for a moment. 614 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:31,959 Speaker 10: But an Ivan and an Anya could find themselves, say 615 00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:35,319 Speaker 10: in a waiting room, or sharing a shelter from the 616 00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:39,239 Speaker 10: rain or a storm, with a Jim and Sally, and 617 00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:42,120 Speaker 10: there was no language barrier to keep them from getting acquainted. 618 00:36:42,239 --> 00:36:45,920 Speaker 5: President Reagan told this little story about these two couples, 619 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:48,120 Speaker 5: Ivan and Anya, and Jim and Sally. 620 00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:52,400 Speaker 1: Ivan and Anya, a lovely couple from Moscow, and our 621 00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:58,520 Speaker 1: beloved Jim and Sally from I don't know Toledo. They 622 00:36:58,560 --> 00:36:59,719 Speaker 1: just feel Midwestern to me. 623 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:02,279 Speaker 10: And as they went their separate ways, maybe Anya would 624 00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:05,720 Speaker 10: be saying to Ivan, wasn't she nice? She also teaches music. 625 00:37:06,239 --> 00:37:08,680 Speaker 10: They might even have decided they were all going to 626 00:37:08,719 --> 00:37:10,439 Speaker 10: get together for dinner some evening soon. 627 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:14,279 Speaker 1: Ah, dinner, How cute. Two months ago, Reagan would have 628 00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:17,400 Speaker 1: ended that story with Jim poking Ivan's eyeballs out and 629 00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:21,840 Speaker 1: Sally shoving Anya in front of a bus for freedom. 630 00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:25,440 Speaker 5: And it was really different. It was different in tone, 631 00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:27,040 Speaker 5: it was different in substance. 632 00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:31,040 Speaker 10: We do not threaten the Soviet Union. Our two countries 633 00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:35,000 Speaker 10: have never fought each other. There's no reason why we 634 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:41,920 Speaker 10: ever should let us begin now than cute. 635 00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:46,440 Speaker 1: The media picked up on Reagan's shift, the Ivan and 636 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:49,520 Speaker 1: Anya tail would go down and speech writing history. But 637 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:52,280 Speaker 1: when Beth came across this speech, what caught her attention 638 00:37:52,680 --> 00:37:56,520 Speaker 1: was one sentence, so slight, so discreet, that if you 639 00:37:56,600 --> 00:37:58,719 Speaker 1: didn't know what to listen for, you might miss it 640 00:37:58,760 --> 00:37:59,240 Speaker 1: all together. 641 00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:03,279 Speaker 5: Let's see, I have a quote here. We need to 642 00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:08,319 Speaker 5: find meaningful ways to reduce the uncertainty and potential for misinterpretations. 643 00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:13,000 Speaker 5: Surrounding military activities. I eventually learned that early drafts of 644 00:38:13,040 --> 00:38:16,480 Speaker 5: the speech had been circulating within Washington in mid December. 645 00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:19,640 Speaker 1: And remember the old Reagan, the tough guy, was still 646 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:22,920 Speaker 1: giving hard line speeches right up until November one. 647 00:38:23,480 --> 00:38:27,520 Speaker 5: So my question became, what happened between November one and 648 00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:30,600 Speaker 5: mid December? And that's when I discovered Able Archer. 649 00:38:31,239 --> 00:38:34,919 Speaker 1: Two months ago, a very secret nuclear near fuck up 650 00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:39,160 Speaker 1: may have unfolded during November's Able Larger exercise. And then 651 00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:43,279 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, this very aggressive, very anti communist 652 00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:47,040 Speaker 1: president is talking about Sally braiding Anya's hair. All of 653 00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:50,200 Speaker 1: a sudden, he's worried about reducing the potential for misinterpretation 654 00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:54,920 Speaker 1: surrounding military activities. Pretty interesting timing. I mean, I'm know 655 00:38:55,160 --> 00:38:58,560 Speaker 1: erk Gio Plaurot, but seem like there might be a 656 00:38:58,600 --> 00:38:59,480 Speaker 1: connection here. 657 00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:04,759 Speaker 10: To reduce the uncertainty and potential for misinterpretations surrounding military activities. 658 00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:09,279 Speaker 1: And boom, did you hear that? That's Able Archer right 659 00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:21,239 Speaker 1: in the speech. Over twenty years after Able Archer, Nate 660 00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:25,360 Speaker 1: Jones began his quest to find out what really happened. 661 00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:29,360 Speaker 1: As a student of history and a living human being, 662 00:39:29,760 --> 00:39:32,120 Speaker 1: he was more than a little concerned about how a 663 00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:36,320 Speaker 1: nuclear near miss was just a rumor in academic circles. 664 00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:39,320 Speaker 1: Was George Schultz hiding something when he spoke to Americans 665 00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:42,080 Speaker 1: during that panel? And is it just a coincidence that 666 00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:48,239 Speaker 1: Reagan changed his tune so dramatically Only months later? Nate 667 00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:51,560 Speaker 1: started at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. It's a massive 668 00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:54,600 Speaker 1: building overlooking mountains and the Pacific Ocean in the heart 669 00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:58,760 Speaker 1: of Semi Valley, California. Inside the Reagan Foundation has completely 670 00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:03,640 Speaker 1: reconstructed Reagan's air one, which sits perched above a giant 671 00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:07,520 Speaker 1: souvenir shop. Nancy and Ronald Reagan are even buried there 672 00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:10,680 Speaker 1: at the library, not the souvenir shop, parded by a 673 00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:13,640 Speaker 1: fridge magnet when the great Communicator's corpse is staring right 674 00:40:13,680 --> 00:40:16,760 Speaker 1: at you, and a couple of floors down in the basement, 675 00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:19,959 Speaker 1: there's an archive. And that's where Nate begins his fight. 676 00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:26,880 Speaker 3: I go to the Ronald W. Reagan Presidential Library and 677 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:28,600 Speaker 3: go through all the boxes. 678 00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:31,439 Speaker 1: Looking through reams and reams of paperwork from our government's past, 679 00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:34,600 Speaker 1: hoping to discover some shred of evidence amongst the redactions 680 00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:37,920 Speaker 1: for anything to do with able Archer eighty three, the 681 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:43,360 Speaker 1: National Security Advisors files US military documents, documents from our allies, 682 00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:46,080 Speaker 1: anything that could paint a picture of how a NATO 683 00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:49,919 Speaker 1: exercise might have changed the course of history. And as 684 00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:54,320 Speaker 1: you might assume, the archive isn't small. Presidential libraries contain 685 00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:55,880 Speaker 1: a lot of stuff. 686 00:40:56,200 --> 00:40:58,640 Speaker 3: It really essentially is a dumping ground. 687 00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:01,239 Speaker 1: But hidden amongst all of them, there could be a 688 00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:02,320 Speaker 1: needle in the haystack. 689 00:41:02,600 --> 00:41:05,320 Speaker 3: Well, when I was there, if my spidy senses went up. 690 00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:11,000 Speaker 1: Nate finds a box. He blows off decades of cobwebs. 691 00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:13,919 Speaker 1: He opens it, swats away the moths as they see 692 00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:16,880 Speaker 1: light for the first time in twenty No, I'm being dramatic. 693 00:41:17,120 --> 00:41:20,680 Speaker 1: The point is the box is important. It's labeled NATO 694 00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:26,120 Speaker 1: Military Exercises November nineteen eighty three, jackpot. 695 00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:29,680 Speaker 3: So I go through that and pull out the folder, 696 00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:32,480 Speaker 3: open it up and it has this I believe it's 697 00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:37,080 Speaker 3: a green card that says every historian's nightmare withheld classified. 698 00:41:38,719 --> 00:41:41,480 Speaker 3: Go to the next folder, same thing. So it's a 699 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:42,960 Speaker 3: little bit heartbreaking. 700 00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:46,520 Speaker 1: But this young historical treasure hunter will not be deterred. 701 00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:49,959 Speaker 3: But I go to the archivist on duty and say, hey, 702 00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:55,359 Speaker 3: what's the mechanism for getting this withheld stuff released. And 703 00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:58,000 Speaker 3: I still remember he kind of gave me a kind 704 00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:00,600 Speaker 3: of a mean laugh. He said, well, you could file 705 00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:04,560 Speaker 3: a foyer or a review request, but don't hold your breath. 706 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:06,520 Speaker 3: You can file, but you'll never get it. 707 00:42:07,880 --> 00:42:14,640 Speaker 1: What a motherfucker god bureaucratic piece of self righteous do 708 00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:17,799 Speaker 1: dag motherfucker? Am I right? 709 00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:20,200 Speaker 11: Then? 710 00:42:20,239 --> 00:42:20,839 Speaker 8: I go too far? 711 00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:22,600 Speaker 1: I went too far. 712 00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:26,840 Speaker 3: I felt that we had a right to know what happened. 713 00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:31,319 Speaker 3: It's possible that it shows this danger unacceptable danger of 714 00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:35,800 Speaker 3: nuclear weapons. And if they're that dangerous in the world, 715 00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:38,719 Speaker 3: was that dangerous then in nineteen eighty three and might 716 00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:42,360 Speaker 3: still be that dangerous now? That danger shouldn't be hidden 717 00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:46,879 Speaker 3: your classification. And that right there got me a little 718 00:42:46,880 --> 00:42:48,960 Speaker 3: bit angry and said, you know what, I'm gonna fight 719 00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:51,560 Speaker 3: this until the end. And I don't think the government 720 00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:53,919 Speaker 3: should be keeping this secret. And I'm gonna learn about 721 00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:55,959 Speaker 3: FOYA and I'm going to learn about appeals and maybe 722 00:42:55,960 --> 00:42:58,399 Speaker 3: even sue because the government's telling me, no, you can't 723 00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:00,000 Speaker 3: have the documents, and I want the document. 724 00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:04,880 Speaker 1: Here's a message to that asshole who worked as the 725 00:43:04,960 --> 00:43:07,799 Speaker 1: arkivist on duty at the Reagan Presidential Library in the 726 00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:11,560 Speaker 1: year two thousand and four, our fearless for your warrior. 727 00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:16,920 Speaker 1: Get the dacks and what would they show? A very 728 00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:20,799 Speaker 1: alarming account of what really went down in nineteen eighty three, 729 00:43:21,600 --> 00:43:26,640 Speaker 1: spurred by intelligence failures, reckless policies, failed diplomacy, and outright arrogance. 730 00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:29,719 Speaker 1: Buckle up, boys and girls. That's going to be a 731 00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:35,000 Speaker 1: terrifying ride over the rest of the season. Will spin 732 00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:38,320 Speaker 1: a yarn so nuts that it would have Reagan himself 733 00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:41,440 Speaker 1: shitting in his ten gallon stetson. We'll tell you how 734 00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:44,480 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three was a truly batshit year for the 735 00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:49,040 Speaker 1: human race, complete with fake military invasions, a commercial airliner 736 00:43:49,160 --> 00:43:52,600 Speaker 1: full of passengers shot down, and a calculator right out 737 00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:55,640 Speaker 1: of a spy movie that might have saved the world. 738 00:43:56,040 --> 00:43:58,719 Speaker 1: And all that craziness would set the stage for the 739 00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:02,359 Speaker 1: Big Snaffo, a close call with nuclear war that would 740 00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:07,759 Speaker 1: be kept top secret for decades. Next week on Snaffoo, 741 00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:10,919 Speaker 1: we'll get into the minds of the button pushers themselves, 742 00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:15,040 Speaker 1: President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Yuri and drop Off, 743 00:44:15,520 --> 00:44:19,360 Speaker 1: two men whose provocations in paranoia would push the world 744 00:44:19,400 --> 00:44:20,040 Speaker 1: to the brink. 745 00:44:20,560 --> 00:44:24,800 Speaker 10: It did give me a real understanding of the communist menace. 746 00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:28,680 Speaker 9: Ronald Reagan, having campaigned on being top, is not going 747 00:44:28,719 --> 00:44:29,800 Speaker 9: to stand up and say. 748 00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:31,560 Speaker 1: Oh, that was just for the cameras. 749 00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:33,200 Speaker 9: I'm actually an old softie. 750 00:44:33,400 --> 00:44:34,240 Speaker 1: I love borsh. 751 00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:37,200 Speaker 5: Really, for the first time in my life, I felt 752 00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:39,240 Speaker 5: like there could be nuclear. 753 00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:45,160 Speaker 1: Warf SNAFU is a production of iHeartRadio, Film, Nation Entertainment, 754 00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:48,920 Speaker 1: and Pacific Electric Picture Company in association with Gilded Audio. 755 00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:52,759 Speaker 1: Our lead producers are Sarah Joyner and Alyssa Martino. Our 756 00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:57,040 Speaker 1: producer is Carl Nellis. Associate producer Tory Smith. It's executive 757 00:44:57,080 --> 00:45:01,240 Speaker 1: produced by me Ed Helms, Milan Papelka, Mike Falbo, Andy 758 00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:05,560 Speaker 1: Chug and Whitney Donaldson. This episode was written by Sarah Joyner, 759 00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:08,800 Speaker 1: with additional writing from me Elliott Kalen, and Whitney Donaldson. 760 00:45:09,280 --> 00:45:12,360 Speaker 1: Our senior editor is Jeffrey Lewis Make the rubble Bouts. 761 00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:16,120 Speaker 1: Olivia Kenny is our production assistant. Our creative executive is 762 00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:19,120 Speaker 1: Brett Harris. Additional research and fact checking by Charles Richter, 763 00:45:19,440 --> 00:45:22,680 Speaker 1: Engineering and technical direction by Nick Dooley. Original music and 764 00:45:22,719 --> 00:45:26,000 Speaker 1: sound designed by Dan Rosatto. Some archival audio from this 765 00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:30,680 Speaker 1: episode originally appeared in Taylor Downing's fantastic film nineteen eighty three, 766 00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:33,760 Speaker 1: The Rink of Apocalypse. Thank you, mister Downing for permission 767 00:45:33,760 --> 00:45:37,319 Speaker 1: to use it. Special thanks to Alison Cohen and Matt Aisenstadt.