1984 COLD WAR POLITICS - REAGAN SPEAKS WHAT IS REALLY ON HIS MIND BRIEFLY CAUSING THE COLD WAR TO WARM UP

 United States President Ronald Reagan,

On August 11, 1984 while running for re-election, 

 was preparing to make his weekly Saturday radio

 address on National Public Radio. As a sound

 check prior to the address, Reagan made the

 following joke to the radio technicians:              

  My fellow Americans, I am 

 pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We  begin bombing in five 

 minutes.

The joke was a parody of the opening line of that  

 day's speech-

 today I signed legislation that will allow student

 religious groups to begin enjoying a right they've

 too long been denied — the freedom to meet in

 public high schools during nonschool hours, just

 as other student groups are allowed to do.

Contrary to popular misconception, this microphone

gaffe was not broadcast over the air, but rather

leaked later to the general populace. But the Tokyo

newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported in October

 1984 that the Soviet Far East Army was placed

 on a full scale

 alert after word of the statement got out, and that

 the alert was not withdrawn until 12 hours later.

 An unnamed aide to US Representative Michael

 Barnes (D-Md.) confirmed that the Pentagon was

 aware of the alert. There was no report of any

 change in the DEFCON level for the United 

States.

Though this was not the first time Reagan had joked

 prior to giving a speech or address, the Soviet

 official news agency, TASS, condemned the joke,

 declaring that "The USSR condemns this

 unprecedented and hostile attack by the US

 President" and that "this kind of behavior is

 incompatible with the great responsibility borne by

 heads of nuclear states for the destinies of their own

 people and mankind

The quip became the basis for a song titled "Five

 Minutes," as well as "A is for Atom (B is for

Bomb)" by Monte Cazazza's band The Atom

Smashers, both of which began with a clip of the 

recording. Personally i remember living in NYC at

the time and the Anti-Reagan faction went to town

over this plastering huge black and white posters of

Reagan and the words of the gaffe. Along with this

the Blossoming Punk Rock scene on the Lower East

Side used it for song material

The Cold War during Reagans presidency was 

revived and the arms race and Nuclear War fear

was there ,Some of the great movies on Nuclear War

were filmed during this period "Threads" Englands 

dark vision and " The Day After" the U.S. version 

and the new advent of  the MTV music video 

channel had a great variety of Reagan caused 

Nuclear War videos like "World Destruction" 

Afrika Boombata's and Johnny Lydons (ex Sex 

Pistol Singer) Look at Nuclear War. This continued

 until the Berlin Wall came down a few years later. 

Reagan was the last of the great Cold War 

 Presidents who adverted and detered Nuclear 

Confrontation on their watch. 

LISTEN BELOW TO THE ACTUAL CLIP 

(1963) POLITICAL PROPAGANDA - EITHER A WORLD FOR ALL GOD"S CHILDREN OR WE MUST DIE- LBJ ELECTION COMMERCIAL

"These are the stakes! To make a

 world in which all of God's children

 can live, or to go into the dark. We

 must either love each other, or we

 must die."


LBJ LETS AMERICANS KNOW THAT WE MUST MAKE A WORLD FOR ALL OF GODS CHILDREN OR GO IN TO THE DARKNESS, AND DIE, AND THE WAY WE WILL DIE IS SEEN IN THE END OF HIS COMMERCIAL AS A NUCLEAR BLAST LIGHTS UP THE SCREEN WITH THE SOUND OF THE DETONATION FOLLOWING IT.......THAT HORROR THAT HE FORECASTS AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF A NUCLEAR DETONATION THAT IS SEEN IN THE REFLECTION OF A LITTLE GIRLS EYE (WHO IS REFERRED TO AS DAISY OR THE DAISY GIRL) AS SHE IS COUNTING DAISY PETALS AND AS SHE COUNTS A MALE VOICE TAKES OVER AND COUNTS DOWN WHAT SOUNDS LIKE A NUCLEAR MISSILE LAUNCH. IT IS VERY SERIOUS AND SHOCKING IN ITS IMAGERY AND ALSO ITS WORDING. THIS WAS 1963 SO THIS WAS A LITTLE HEAVY FOR ITS DAY, BUT SO WERE HIS OTHER CAMPAIGN COMMERCIALS SHOWING THE KLAN OR OUT OF CONTROL HIPSTERS AND LONG HAIRED DRUG FUELED YOUTH TEARING UP AMERICA. ALL OF THESE VERY IMAGE HEAVY COMMERCIALS  THAT CALLED FOR STRAIGHT GOD FEARING AMERICANS TO COME OUT AND VOTE FOR HIM THE STAKES HAVE NEVER BEEN HIGHER. 
THIS HAS TO BE ONE OF THE SCARIEST ELECTION BIDS I HAVE EVER SEEN.....WELL SOME OF RONALD REAGAN'S ELECTION ADS AND QUOTES ARE ALSO KINDA SCARY TOO, BUT JOHNSON RODE THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS OUT WITH KENNEDY AND THAT WAS THE CLOSEST WE HAD COME TO A HOT WAR WITH THE SOVIETS. SO AFTER KENNEDY WAS ASSASSINATED AND JOHNSON WAS SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT HE TOOK ON THE BURDEN OF THE COLD WAR ,SO IF HE SAYS IN A ROUNDABOUT WAY THAT IF YOU DON'T COME OUT AND VOTE FOR ME WE ARE ALL GOING TO MARCH TOGETHER INTO A NUCLEAR APOCALYPSE THAT MIGHT OF BEEN A GOOD REASON TO VOTE FOR THE GUY. SCARY SHIT, IT IS MOST DEFINITELY A CLASSIC COLD WAR MEMORY AND HE WAS ELECTED, AND EVEN STILL SOME  AMERICANS WERE MARCHED OFF IN TO THE DARKNESS..IT WAS CALLED VIETNAM 

“LBJ’s Atomic Ad”
1964 – “Daisy Girl”

'Daisy Girl' counting her petals in 1964.

      On September 7, 1964, television advertising history was made during the broadcast of NBC’s Monday Night at The Movies.  That’s when a new kind of TV ad was first aired that would forever change the art and practice of political advertising – and to a large degree, political campaigning as well. For 1964 was the year that the negative political ad was born, initiating the clever use of image and sound to paint an opponent in negative or scary terms. No less than a presidential election was at stake.

     The Democrats, with President Lyndon B. Johnson in the White House following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, were headed for an election-year battle with Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, a fierce and outspoken conservative.  The Democrats had hired a New York advertising firm to help them in their campaign.  Among the ad men enlisted was Tony Schwartz who believed that negative sentiment associated with a particular candidate could be more powerful in persuading voters than positive ones.

Photograph of an atomic blast, a version of which was also shown in the 'Daisy Girl' campaign ad.

     On the campaign trial, Goldwater had advocated the use of “tactical” nuclear weapons in Vietnam, and Lyndon Johnson’s team went right after that, trying to paint Goldwater as dangerous.  One result was the infamous“Daisy Girl” TV ad, a one-minute spot featuring a little blond girl in an open field, appearing innocent and playful, plucking petals off a daisy, counting as she went, flubbing the sequence a bit, as young children do:  “One, two, three, four, five, seven, six, six, eight, nine, nine …,”she says, counting in a slow, sing-song fashion.  Immediately following the little girl’s voice comes a man’s voice, enhanced by an echo chamber.  The girl looks up from her de-petalled flower, as if hearing the distant voice, also counting — backwards:  “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero.”  The sound of a horrific explosion follows as the TV image changes sharply to the mushroom cloud of an atomic explosion, then an x-ray-like image of the daisy girl as the blast sound rolls out for an extended count of some long seconds.  Then comes the voice of Lyndon Johnson.  In his perfect Texas twang, pausing purposely for effect at the proper moments, Johnson offers this view:  “These are the stakes . . . To make a world in which all of God’s children can live . . . Or, to go into the darkness . . . We must either love each other, or we must die.”  The piece closes with an announcer voice-over:  “Vote for President Johnson on November 3rd.  The stakes are too high for you to stay home.”

1960-1970 THE SOVIET THREAT - A LOOK AT THE SOVIET COLD WAR MACHINE SET TO MUSIC

A LOOK AT SOVIET NUCLEAR STRATEGIC ROCKET FORCES DURING THOSE COLD WAR YEARS LOTS OF BIG MISSILE TRUCKS TEARING ASS DOWN UKRAINIAN BACKROADS SIMULATING WAR ,FOOTAGE OF THE BIG PARADES IN MOSCOW SHOWING THEIR MIGHTY NUCLEAR DETERENT WHILE THE AVERAGE SOVIET DRANK ROTGUT VODKA MADE FROM US GRAIN SHIPMENTS TO KEEP BORIS FROM STARVING SINCE THEY SPENT EVERYTHING FIGHTING THE COLD WAR TRYING SO HARD TO BEST THE US AND ITS ALLIES,CHECK THE INTERNET FOR RUSSIAN MILITARY EQUIPMENT THEIR ARE HUNDREDS OF HUGE MARSHALING POINTS THROUGHOUT RUSSIA AND ITS BREAKAWAY REPUBLICS WHERE HUNDREDS UPON HUNDREDS OF SOVIET MILITARY VEHICLES,JETS,HELICOPTERS,ARTILLERY PIECES, AND YES THOSE BIG ASS MISSILE CARRIERS ROTTING INTO THE MUD AND SNOW WITH NO FUTURE, ALL OF THAT WASTE JUST TO RUN WITH THE BIG DOGS! THE FILM FOOTAGE IS SET TO MUSIC AND IS A FITTING TRIBUTE!

COLD WAR HISTORY - A HISTORY CHANNEL LOOK AT THE SECRET NUCLEAR FACILITIES 60+ YEARS LATER

1959 - TARGET YOU - ONE OF THE BEST CIVIL DEFENSE PROPAGANDA FILMS

TARGET YOU

YOU ARE THE CITIZEN OF THE FREE WORLD AND AN AMERICAN


TOU ARE THE TARGET OF THOSE WHO WOULD TRAMPLE THE LIBERTIES OF FREE MEN ,YOU ARE IN THE BOMB SIGHTS OF THOSE WOULD TAKE YOUR FREEDOM !!YOU ARE A CITIZEN OF THE FREE WORLD A CITIZRN OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!! YOU ARE THE TARGET!!!! YOU ARE THE TARGET IS ONE OF MY TOP 5 COLD WAR PROPAGANDA PIECES ON NUCLEAR ATTACK. THE ANGRY VOICE OF A NARRATOR WHO SOUNDS ANGRY AND STERN AS HE SETS THE POINTS TO TAKE CARE OF BEFORE HEADING TO A PUBLIC FALLOUT SHELTER, ALSO HE TALKS ABOUT PLANS TO BUILD YOUR OWN AND NAME DROPS THE DEPT. OF CIVIL DEFENSE WASHINGTON DC. HE DISCUSSES THE GRIM TRUTH THAT NUCLEAR ATTACK WILL HAPPEN AND THAT THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HAS STATED THAT OUR DEFENSE SYSTEM CANNOT STOP A ENEMY WITH HUNDREDS OF BOMBERS HEADING TO CITIES AROUND NORTH AMERICA. HE IS A SCARY DUDE AS HE GOES ON ABOUT YOU WILL HAVE TO APPLY FIRST AID TO THOSE HURT IN A ENEMY ATTACK AND THAT FINDING MEDICAL HELP WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE.HE ALSO BREAKSDOWN THE CONELRAD SYSTEM AND TO TUNE TO 640 AND 1240 ON YOUR AM RADIO, THE FACT THAT HE CLAIMS THAT "BEING PREPARED IS TO FIGHT THE ENEMY AS YOUR FOREFATHERS DID"! AND EVERY TIME HE ADDS A POINT HE SAYS "CHECK YOU WILL NOT USE YOUR PHONE AFTER THE ATTACK IT IS FOR EMERGENCY SERVICES". HE ALSO COMMANDS THE LISTENER WILL BE PREPARED FOR ATTACK AND USE THE SKILLS HE JUST EXPLAINED IN HIS EMOTIONLESS VOICE.THE NARATOR IS ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT THE ENEMY OR ATTACKERS, (FUNNY THAT THEY NEVER NAME THE SOVIET UNION BUT ALWAYS SHOW MISSILES AND BOMBERS COMING FROM THE VAST AREA CALLED THE SOVIET UNION.) LIKE I SAID THIS MOVIE IS A CLASSIC PROPAGANDA FILM AND ONE OF THE BEST!!! WATCH IT AND ENJOY!!!