Of Nukes, Nuts and Tarot Cards: Reagan Revisited, Alex Zaitchik, Freezerbox
Historian Frances Fitzgerald's new book on Star Wars, Ronald Reagan and the end of the Cold War, 'Way Out There in the Blue,' confirms our worst suspicions, and adds to them, writes Alex Zaitchik in the zine Freezerbox. Fitzgerald suggests that Reagan won the 1984 presidential election in a landslide by colluding with 'scheming war-hungry advisors' to create and maintain a public terrified of the threat of nuclear war. One has only to look at the prevalence of Cold War- obsessed movies during the Reagan presidency--'Wargames,' 'Rocky IV,' and 'The Day After,' to name a few--to diagnose this culture of fear. And, according to Zaitchik, we're not entirely out of the woods yet regarding arms control. 'Moving into the next century,' he warns, 'there is a firm Republican-led bipartisan consensus that an ABM system must be built.' As a result, the Russians, believing that such a system would give the U.S. first-strike capability, 'are threatening to pull out of all arms treaties if the U.S. proceeds with deployment.'
--Anjula Razdan
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