How many people were afraid Reagan and Bush would blow us all to pieces?

[genius]

Poll question: How many people were afraid Reagan and Bush would blow us all to pieces?

I had regularly had nightmares about nuclear war. Reagan's rhetoric made Goldwater look like a pacifist. (Actually, in the end, Goldwater turned out to be okay.) Gorbachev and previous Soviet leaders tried hard to end the Cold War but Reagan wanted bombs and Star Wars and many of us living then believed that each day could be the last one for life on Earth. The movie "The Day After" was directed at the world Reagan was talking about creating.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

1. Other: I'm STILL afraid the FratBoy Fuhrer is trigger-happy.

[mountainvue]

4. Me too.

What the hell is so hard for 50% of the population to understand about that? Religious zealot with a trigger finger.

[genius]

5. Me three.

After hearing about how he flipped out in the meeting with Tenet, I'm hoping someone will step in and relieve him of duty. After all, Bush does fit the clasic symptoms of insanity.

[bicentennial_baby]

2. A primary aspect of my childhood

As well as that of my fiancee's...major nuclear holocaust anxiety.

[Philostopher]

3. Carried it in the back of my mind 24/7 for most of my life.

At least until it became clear that massive nuclear proliferation wasn't going to be what destroyed us.

I loved the lyric from the Queen song, 'Hammer To Fall' -- it pretty much described the world almost all Baby Boomers and the first wave of Generation X kids grew up in:

For we who grew up tall and proud
In the shadow of the mushroom cloud
Convinced our voices can't be heard
We just wanna scream it louder and louder louder

What the hell we fighting for?
Just surrender and it won't hurt at all
You just got time to say your prayers
While you're waiting for the hammer to hammer to fall...

[comsymp]

6. Raygun always worried me but the 1984 mike check "joke" really clinched it

It was still a delicate time and that shit wasn't funny!

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. This is funny

I can't decide how to vote yet

[DebJ]

8. Why the past tense?

[NWHarkness]

9. Scared as hell!

When Reagan was president, we kept a supply of canned goods and bottle water at the ready, and had an itinerary and route mapped out to flee to northern Michigan if nuclear war looked imminent.

And we were far from the only people who felt that way. The intense fear he inspired is, of course, forgotten in the celebration of "morning in America".

[Jade Fox]

10. I had nightmares too during his first run for office. n/t

[Pepperbelly]

11. the true indice is the number of apocolyptic films & novels at the time nt

.

[Tansy_Gold]

12. "Reagan, God, and the Bomb" by F. H. Knelman

(c) 1985. Excellent reading, if you can find it.


Tansy Gold, who believes in books

[MrPrax]

13. Thx for the Memory...

Knelman was a kewl guy...I contacted him to speak at a nuke forum back in 1986. He did a great speech.

That book, along with Zinn, Sklar, Diamond, etc was standard reading for Real Progressives back then...

Still should be...

[cmf]

14. I was part of that generation that grew up under Reagan

I would regularly have nightmares about nuclear war. Still have them time to time, actually. My fixation on nuclear war didn't stop until I was nearly an adult and Clinton took office.

[genius]

18. Gorbachev mostly stopped my nightmares. But they didn't end till

Clinton. To me, Clinton is the President who allowed Americans to have good dreams.

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. Constantly during Reagan

I actually trusted Bush the First enough that he wouldn't go off on some jihadistic "vaporize the fuckers!" commie-hating nuke tirade, like I always feared Reagan would. Then there was that damn Libya thing, thought for sure I was gonna get drafted.

Always had the sense that Reagan really hated not being able to use the nukes whenever he wanted. I think he got erections thinking about them. Power mad evil fuck.

I had pretty much no fear that Bush would use nukes.

Then when Clinton became president, the fear totally went away. I had no fear at all that clinton would ever use a nuke.

When Shrubbie McShitBrains became president, my fear went right back up. ESPECIALLY after 9-11, and then again especailly when the asshole started talking about "bunkerbusting nukes" and crap.

What an asshole.

They're gonna have to screw Reagan into the ground, he was so *@(#^$ crooked.

Bye Ronnie, you evil fuck. Thanks for making my last few years of high school and college such a traumatic, fear-filled time. Up yours.

[Minstrel Boy]

16. It's just unfinished business for *,

and he can't wait to declare "Mission Accomplished!"

[Walt Starr]

17. I was terrified WWIII would be started in the 80's

I'm even more terrified today.

[Valerie5555]

19. Also admit that the nuke stuff was scary or

:scared:y and found it sad or :( or :cry: that new generations had to deal with that stuff thanks to Bush or *.