"I think that this film presents a very simple-minded notion of the nuclear problem and it deals with the most obvious question that a general nuclear war aimed at cities is a disaster and a catastrophe. I wrote a book on the subject 30 years ago when the notion of general nuclear war first arose. The problem of our period, the problem we have to grapple with is how to avoid such a war, how to preserve freedom while seeking to avoid such a war, how to establish, how to create a military establishment that reduces the dangers of such a war, what arms control policies are compatible with this policy, how we handle crises. Those are serious questions. To engage in an orgy of demonstrating how terrible the casualties of a nuclear war are, and translating it into pictures from statistics that have been known for three decades, and then to have Mr. Sagan say it’s even worse than this... I would say: what are we to do about this? Are we supposed to make policy by scaring ourselves to death, or is somebody going to make some proposals about where we are supposed to go? And if people don’t make them, then I do not believe we are making any contribution. That’s my objection to this film. It took this most simple-minded problem that everybody will agree upon. There’s nobody in this room who disagrees with the fact that this must not happen. It’s how to avoid it that we should be discussing."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
1980s American filmsFilms about nuclear war and weaponsPost-apocalyptic filmsFilms about World War IIITelevision films
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Henry Kissinger
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Day_After_(1983_film)
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
The Day After (1983 film)
29 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by The Day After (1983 film) →
Related Quotes
"I wonder who was spared. I wonder if New York, Paris, Moscow... are just like Kansas City now."
"[speaking into his shortwave radio] This is Lawrence. This is Lawrence, Kansas. Is there anybody there? Anybody at all?"
"You know what Einstein said about World War III? He said he didn't know how they would fight World War III, but he kn…"
"You can't see it... you can't feel it... and you can't taste it. But it's here, right now, all around us. It's goin' …"
"Confidence is high. I repeat, confidence is high. Roger, we've got 32 targets in track and 10 impacting points. I wan…"
"Roger, understand. Major Reinhardt, we have a massive attack against the U.S. at-at this time. ICBMs...numerous ICBMs…"
"Disclaimer: The catastrophic events you have just witnessed are, in all likelihood, less severe than the destruction …"
"No one is going to tune it to two nights of Armageddon."
"The answer print has been tampered with twice. One scene of a child having a nuclear nightmare was set. A psychologis…"
"Lori Lethin - Denise Dahlberg"