Nice article. I was born in 1949. I remember the Cold War so well. The 1957 Sputnik launch shook my tree as an 8-year old...and I hoped my country could respond. We young people knew there was a threat of nuclear war, but no one cried about it. You dealt with it. No 'trigger warnings' necessary when discussing it back then.
Every year from the late-1950s through the early 1990s, I had dreams once or twice a year that were vivid, and always followed the same pattern: it would be a beautiful day, blue sky...I'm outside looking up...and I would a glint of metal way up at 35,000 feet...and I would know it was a Soviet bomber.
I would watch it...and invariably, something tiny and shiny would drop from it...and I knew what it was as it dropped. it was an atomic bomb. Finally, there would be a flash of brilliant light throughout the sky...and I would know the weapon had detonated. But always before the shock wave hit (and I was always ready for it), I would wake up.
The dreams ceased when the Soviet Union imploded and the Berlin Wall came down. Never had another one. Two of my favorite movies from that time were 'Fail Safe' and 'Dr. Strangelove'.
We accepted the risk of horrific death by hydrogen bomb...and nary a tear was shed in fear. We went about our business.
We believed in our country. We believed our country was right, and the Soviet Union was wrong.
Thanks for setting the record straight with respect to the Soviet agent's lawyer. It seems Hollywood really does like to depict America as bad when it can.
Thank you Professor for another fine, thought provoking post.
I was born in 1946 and remember those (now) silly drills where we got down under our desks like we would in the event of a nuclear bomb.
I never worried a bit about them and never had a bad dream or nervous time. I was in my last year of high school when the Cuban Missile Crisis hit and I thought it was an exciting time.
I never worried because I had complete faith in "Ike" and the other leaders. We just knew that Ike and all the others would do the best they could to always do the right thing and only the thing that would be the best for us and so why worry?
It seems like another world now and I guess it was.
4 comments:
Nice article. I was born in 1949. I remember the Cold War so well. The 1957 Sputnik launch shook my tree as an 8-year old...and I hoped my country could respond. We young people knew there was a threat of nuclear war, but no one cried about it. You dealt with it. No 'trigger warnings' necessary when discussing it back then.
Every year from the late-1950s through the early 1990s, I had dreams once or twice a year that were vivid, and always followed the same pattern: it would be a beautiful day, blue sky...I'm outside looking up...and I would a glint of metal way up at 35,000 feet...and I would know it was a Soviet bomber.
I would watch it...and invariably, something tiny and shiny would drop from it...and I knew what it was as it dropped. it was an atomic bomb. Finally, there would be a flash of brilliant light throughout the sky...and I would know the weapon had detonated. But always before the shock wave hit (and I was always ready for it), I would wake up.
The dreams ceased when the Soviet Union imploded and the Berlin Wall came down. Never had another one. Two of my favorite movies from that time were 'Fail Safe' and 'Dr. Strangelove'.
We accepted the risk of horrific death by hydrogen bomb...and nary a tear was shed in fear. We went about our business.
We believed in our country. We believed our country was right, and the Soviet Union was wrong.
Thanks for setting the record straight with respect to the Soviet agent's lawyer. It seems Hollywood really does like to depict America as bad when it can.
Professor
Thanks for this post.
The Soviets were not a real ally.
They were a faux ally. They well knew it.
So did we, at the top, at least some of us.
See my blog.
Say no more,
all the best
Thank you Professor for another fine, thought provoking post.
I was born in 1946 and remember those (now) silly drills where we got down under our desks like we would in the event of a nuclear bomb.
I never worried a bit about them and never had a bad dream or nervous time. I was in my last year of high school when the Cuban Missile Crisis hit and I thought it was an exciting time.
I never worried because I had complete faith in "Ike" and the other leaders. We just knew that Ike and all the others would do the best they could to always do the right thing and only the thing that would be the best for us and so why worry?
It seems like another world now and I guess it was.
Thanks for a great post.
Jim
I think it is worth noting that Powers himself blamed Oswald for giving the Soviets sufficient information to successfully target his U-2.
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