I •

000092
DEPART MENT OF DEFENSE

CBS Sunday .,r·!Or n,. r. q WDV M-TV

CBS Network

October 23, 1983 10:00 /1. • M. \.:ashington, D.C.

Reaction to "The Day After•

CHARLES KURALT: The cover story that we prepared for

this Sunday mornin~ is about a oossibility even more horrible
[than r arine deaths in Lebanon]. It seems to some people that,
missile-by- missile and threat-~y-threat, t~e United States and
the Soviet Union are takin1 one step after another toward the
brink of catastrorhe, so preoccuoied and so ristrustful that they
d o n I t s e e t h e c h a s m a. n e a d . Th e r e w i l 1 b•e n o s a t i s f a c t i o n f o r
people whn believe that or for anybody else on the Earth if they
are proved to be right.
That is the nrenise of "Cloud Over Kansas," our cover
story, reported by David Culhane.
~O ~AN: Soviet negotiators in Geneva have issued what
U.S. officials call an implicit threat to pull out of all nuclear
ar ms talks because •.•
~AN: Today the Pentaqon confirms a warship confronta-
tion with the Soviet Union.
MAN: The United States plans - to begin deploying the
sophisticated F-16 fighter-bo mbers •••
~AN: Polish authorities say youths who rioted in Gdansk
Saturday were inspired by American propaaanrla initiatives.
MAN: •.. when Sh ultz de ~anded strai ght answers about the
shootinq down of the Korean airliner •••
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MAN: •.. deployment of U.S. cruise and Pershing mis-

siles. Moscow hinted that some of the missiles .••
DAV I D CUL HA t, E : A1 1 a c r o s s Amer i c a , i n Kans as , pe op 1e
try to understand. Relations bet~:een the United States and the
Soviet Union are now at one of the lowest points in history:
Afghanistan, Poland, Central America, the Korean civilian
airliner shot down by the Russians, the arms talks stalled.
In West Germany, Britain and the United States, demon-
strators protest NATO's arms plans. In ~oscow, there are also
peace marches. New Russian nuclear missiles are already in
place. The ~est is about to counter with its own new generation
of nuclear missiles in Europe.
PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Well, we're going to deploy
and deploy on schedule. And once they see we're qoinq to do
that, and now that they know that we're determined io b~ild our
strength and not unilaterally disar~, as we so foolishly have
done over recent years, I think they're 9oing to see that the
best thinq for them is to negotiate with us, and in good faith.
CULHANE: For a mo ment, in our minds we consider that
old fa~iliar terror, that intricate puzzle, the possibility of
nuclear war. We try to understand.
And in Lawrence, Kansas they have tried to understand.
But in this town they have confronted in a special way the
possibility and the consequences of nuclear war.
[Filfll clip]
CULHANE: This is a scene from an ABC television film
called "The Day After," scheduled for broadcast November 20th.
The picture shows how an incident on the East-~est German border
mushrooms into nuclear war.
[Film clip]
CULHAfiE: The main scenes take place in Kansas City,
Kansas and in the nearby town of Lawrence. In precise and
agonizing detail, the effects of a nuclear exchange are depicted.
Kansas City is obliterated.
These are only a few scenes, but it is one of the most
qraphic presentations of the consequences of nuclear war ever
shown.
More than 2000 people in Lawrence were extras in the
film, and the premiere took olace there recently. The oeople
were stunned.
 2

MAN: A little girl puts her ar ms around her father as

there's a missile goin9 off in the backgroun~ and she says,
"Daddy, there's not going to be a war, is there?" He didn't have
an answer for his daughter. And I want a better answ~r than that
for My son. ·
MAN: There is almost this cry that wants to well ur
fro m deep within you to so r. eborly or so mething to say, "This is
madness. "
CHILD: And just the thinQs about what it really would
be like if we harl a nuclear war just really just scared rn e. I
ju st couldn't think about it anymore.
CULHA NE: Lawrence is nestled in the rolling hills east
of th e Kansas grain fields. It is the home of the University of
Kan sas. It is Middli America. That is one reason it was chosen
fo r t he film. In a nuclear exchange, the heartland, where so
~any miss i les are based, would beco me a war zone. One recent
footba ll Saturday in Lawrence they were thinkin9 about that and
tryin~ to understand.
Re publican State Senator Winton Winter saw the film and
tried to und erstand.
SE NA TOR WI NTO N WI NTER: All of us here in Lawrence and
this part of the country are very comfortablP. here. We like the
· a y o f l i f e . I t ' s v e r y pe a c e f u1 a n d we do n,' t h av e t o f ac e a 1o t
of stri fe, typically. It is certainly ironir. to hear in this
setting t h at we all enjoy in t he Midwest, you saw it destroyed.
Obv iou sl y , the destruction to the place that we live in and the
ola ce th at we love and this part of the country was absolutely
evast atinq.
ti: Ar• : we no 11 a pp ea 1 to your group to he 1 p us res i st th i s
u~w anted proliferation of weapons based in Europe.
CULHA NE: Because of the fil m, the anti-nuclear group in
own reor ganized itself. They have gained dozens of new members
since "Th e Day After" was screened locally.
ALAN HANSEN: So we founded the soecial ad hoc project
called Let Lawrence Live, which is designed to encourage people
o think seriously about this movie, to think about what it
depict s, and then, hopefully, to make up their minds to do
so . ething about it.
CULHANE: Professor Alan Hansen teaches anthropology at
• e Un i versity of Kansas.
HANSEN: We are pro-disarma~ent. We want the ar ms race
to stop . We want disarmament to beqin. Most of us, I think, are
 4

for bilateral disarmament, not unilater~l disar~ament. But there

are even variations within our group on that score.
CULHANE: But it's not just Lawrence. Uncountable
numbers of unauthorized bootleg cories of the film have apparent-
ly been shown around the country. Pro-disarmament, pre-freeze
leaders say that in connection with the film there will be
teach-ins, press conferences, and tens of thousands of oroanized
groups watching "The Day After" on television Nove~ber 20t~.
National representatives for pro-defense groups have
branded the film left-wing propaganda that will generate hysteria
and an emotional rather than rational approach to nuclear
questions. And they say the ti~ing of the fil~, only ~eeks
before the scheduled deploy~ent of new American missiles in
Eurooe, could shake the resolve of t he American public on that
issue.
Professor Roy Laird, a Soviet ex pert at t he Uni versity
of Kansas, is a strong advocate of A~ erica n nuclear strenqth.
Bu t he does not believe the fil m is left- win g propa gan da. ·
ROY LAIRD: I went with an a pp re he nsio n t h at may be t h is
is goino to be a propaganda piece f or the unilateral disar rn a~ent
cro wd. I was very pleased to co ~ e awa y wit h a feelino t h at it
was a ~ell-balanced piece of work. Bu t t hat is not to say t hat
it doesn't have its i ~ pact. It is certainly a very so beri ng
f i l m. The responses to my very unscie ntific nolling that I've
don e is precisely that it has heia htened awareness but hasn't
c r anq ed any~o dy's view.
CULHANE: It was apparently by c hance, but the showina
of t he fil~ does coincide with de ~ onstrations by peace qrouos
a a a i n s t t h e d e p l o y me n t o f t n e ne '" Ar:i er i c an rn i s s i l es , de r.i on st r a -
ti on s in Europe and in the United States.
PRESIDENT REAGAN: I think the Soviets are going to
ne ~otiate seriously. There is a areat propa9anda effort goinq on
on their part now because their tarqet is they've been
encouragP.d by some of the de monstrations that they've helped
or ganize throuqhout the world.
CULH .A.NE: The Reaqan Ad ministration points out that all
Western govern~ents, with considerable public supnort, are still
f i r rn 1 y d e t e r r 1 i n e d t o d e p l o y t h e n e w r, i s s i l e •

PRESIDE NT REAGAN: Well, we're qoino to deploy, and

deploy on schedule.
CULHANE: In Lawrence, Ka n sas t hey see the de monstra-
tions, they see the ar ms talks, the y seePresident Reaqan, and
 5

they try to understand whether the fil m "The Day After" is saying
ar~ for peace or disarm for oeace.
MAN: It simply doesn't answer those qustions. It
doesn't answer a question of whether one shoulrl disarm or whether
one should build up. It si~ply says if this thing happens,
that's what's going to happen.
1
; I t h i n k t h e r e s u l t w i l 1 n o t be an emotional
! AN:
b an-the-bo~b-everywhere sort of attitude. It may be a more
rational response.
SENATOR WINTER: I had an unco~fortable feeling driving
down the highway yesterday, hearing the news about the demon-
strations in Europe and •..
CULHANE: State Senator Winter.
SENATOR WINTER: ••. particularly aggressive response
th at the Russians learlers have had to the latest suagAstion in
th e ar~s talks. And it struck me cold in the face that this was
ex actly the kind of thinq that was portrayed in the ~ovie, the
kind of one step after · another and distrust and growing tension
in t he world.
LAIRD: Yes, it's possible, I think, that we would have
a maj or nuclear exchanqe.
CULHA~E: Professor Laird.
LA I RD: 8 u t i n an u n cert a i n wo r 1 d , I wo u1 d say that it
is my view that the probability is relatively auite slim. And if
t h e Go o d Lo r d a 1 l o ..,, s , y o u a n d I w i 1 1 b e a r o u n d t o e n j o y t h e
b~autiful fall 20-30 years from now.
CULHANE: In furore the arms talks continue without
result. And in the East and West, the arrns buildup goes on.
In La\\'rence, Kansas they try to understand. Matt
Billings tries to understand.
MATT BILLINGS: You know, it'l·l never happen, I think.
But it probably won't. I hope not in ~Y lifetime. You just have
to get really prepared and just -- I don't think anybody is
really that stupid to have a nuclear war, 'cause one bomb will
start another one which will start another one, and going on, and
then eventually the whole world orobably will be wiped out.