³For the first
time humankind has the power to destroy itself.² 1 The nuclear age has changed
the world, for the good and the bad. Though the bad, is far greater than the
good. We sometimes ponder to our selves, ³what would happen if we were forced
in to a nuclear war ware their are now winners.² The way life would be after
such an incident would change life as we know
it drastically. In the event of a nuclear war with the Soviets we would
have lost approximately one hundred and fifty million American lives. 2 The planet would be destroyed to the extent
that even thoughts who survived would have no place to live. No Government, or
persons, can win a nuclear war and as long as their are nuclear missiles of
mass destruction there will always be the risk of someone using them. Once the
first missile is unleashed their is no telling were it would stop.
Our dealings with the former Soviet Union was
based on the French word, detente, that the Russians had defined as a freedom
to purchase subversion, aggression and expansionism any were in the world. 3
The soviets have been, up until 1990, the U.S¹s defacto enemies. There goal was
too destroy democracy and imposing communism. 4 This is way it was though to be
inevitable for a nuclear war with the soviets. ³The dream of a non nuclear
world is a great and notable one, how ever for the foreseeable future it is
unattainable in actuality and unwise in theory.² 5 Because of this harsh the
United States is left with a problem; How can we beet this so called
inevitability? The answer is: space based defense weapons. The program, brought
forth by the Reagan administration, was called the strategic defense
Initiative, and some called ³Star Wars.² 6 Reagan¹s strategic defense
initiative, created in the 80¹s, was an acceptable for the U.S; it worked to
convince the Soviets not only to reduce there nuclear arsenal but to halt any
chance for a nuclear attack by the Soviets.
³ What is the worth of our society as we know
it? Right now we hold an entire population hostage.² 7 Ever since the 1960¹s
our main defense against the soviets has been the MAD policy, Mutual Assured
Destruction. Both the United States and the Soviet Union had enough nuclear
weapons at their disposal so that if one fired at the other the one that was
being fired at would fire it¹s missiles at the other too. In other words, they
would share the same fate.8
Wherever the President goes he carries a small
plastic- coated card, and a military aid is always present. This aid cares a
small bag called ³the football,² it contains directions for the launching of
all our nuclear weapons. The card carried by the President listed codes
confirming that is was indeed him, the choice to launch was entirely his.9 This
should not even be necessary. ³Underneath it all, people don¹t think there is
any hope to avoid a nuclear war, it has taken away peoples hope.²10 That hope
was restored in 1983 when President Reagan announced his commitment to the
American people to do what ever it took to make the SDI fly. For a lot of
Americans his commitment to this program was an alternative to a nuclear
holocaust.11 The SDI is a sidelight system that was to be put in space with
large lazier guns attached to it. These lazier would intercept and destroy
nuclear missiles when they emerged from their silos. Reagan was willing to
share this technology with others willing to reduce their nuclear arsenals.
³One day a madman could come along and make the missiles and black mail all the
world. but not if we have a defense a against them.² 12 ³We all got together
in 1925 and banned the use of poisons
gas. But we all kept our gas masks.² 13 Reagan was instrumentally right with
this statement. The SDI gave the United States an opportunity to almost force
the world to pay close attention. If the entire world had the SDI it would make
nuclear weapons obsolete. So what was once ³unattainable² yesterday might be,
in time to come, very attainable.
The SDI would end The arms race. Gorbachev ³had
to know that Americans military technology was overwhelmingly superior to his.²
14 ³He also had to Know that we¹(the U.S) Œcould outspend the Soviets on
weapons.² 15 In 1983 the U.S spent 34 thousand million on defense technology
alone.16 We spent 24 billion dollars, over a seven year period, on the SDI.17
We have 165 U.S satellites in orbit right now, each one coasting in excess of
one billion each.18
Our economic system, capitalism, is far more
superior to the Soviets system, communism. The proof is that our system our
countries system is going strong, theirs collapsed in 1989 with the fall of
communism in eastern Europe. This is also prop that we did out spend them.
With the deployment of the SDI the Soviets
weapons would be no longer a thereat to the U.S. What leverage they had in the
past would die with the SDI. Their only hope to keep some of the power they had would be to agree to massive
arms reduction, on both sides. Above all it would bring a lasting peace between
our two nations.
The Soviets at first thought our research on
the SDI was as an offensive, first strike capability. This was not the case at
all. It was a defense weapon only. The SDI was not a bargaining chip, opposed
to popular belief. Reagan wrote in his diary in July of 1985, ³Made a decision
we would not trade away our program of research SDI for a promise of Soviet
reduction in nuclear arms.² 19 While the Soviets were ³whining² about the
research we¹d done on the SDI, they had been conducting similar research for
more than twenty years.20 Gorbachev was adamant that the U.S must cave in on
the SDI. 21 Reagan stated that ³this will be a case of an irresistible force
meeting an immovable object.² 22) Gorbachev was not willing to agree to any
weapons reductions until we renounced ³the development, Testing and deployment
of space-strike weapons,² a reference to SDI.23 Though in late 1988, the U.S
and the Soviet Union agreed of a fifty percent reduction in both their arms,
while keeping our research on the SDI.
Before Gorbachev, every Soviet leader had vowed
to the pursuit of a Marxist commitment
and world ruled by the communist system; he was the first not to push Soviet
expansionism, the first to agree to destroy nuclear weapons, the first to
suggest a free market and to support open election and freedom of expression.
24
³The two of us were in a unique situation. Here
we were, I said, two men who had been born in obscure rural hamlets in our
respective countries, each of us poor and from humble beginnings. Now we were
the leaders of our countries and probably the only two men in the world who
could bring about World War III.
At the same time, I said, we were possibly the
only two men who might be able to bring peace to the world. I said I thought we
owed it to the world to use the opportunity that had been presented us to work
at building the kind of human trust and confidence in each other that could
lead to genuine peace. Listening to the translation, Gorbachev seemed to nod in
agreement.²25
Nuclear weapons serve no purpose in tomorrows
world. Once nuclear weapons they power. Today we almost have the technology to
destroy them if their was an attempt to use them. Not only that but the world
has come together and reduced their nuclear capability's. We know that in
nuclear war their are no winners just losers. Reagan¹s Strategic Defense
Initiative, created in the 80¹s, was an acceptable risk for the U.S; it worked
to convince the Soviets not only to reduce their nuclear arsenal but to halt
any chance for a nuclear attack.
Gorbachev wrote President Reagan in late 1988:
³For the first time in history, nuclear missiles have been destroyed. Nuclear
disarmament is becoming an established and routine practice.
³In several regions of the world, a process of
political settlement of conflicts and national reconciliation has got under
way.
³Our relationship is a dynamic stream, and you
and I are working together to widen it. A stream cannot be slowed down; it can
only be blocked or diverted. But that would not be in our interests. Politics,
of course, is the art of the possible. But it is only by working and
maintaining a dynamic dialogue that we will put into effect what we have made
possible, and will make possible tomorrow what is yet impossible today.²26 EndNotes
1.Kazas, Tom, The
World Will Never Be the Same (SIRS 1985)
G1+
2. Men of the
Year, Time- 1983 Highlights (Time :
CD-ROM)
3.Men of the
Year, (CD-ROM) Time
4.Men of the
Year, (CD-ROM) Time
5.Hodding,
Carter, The Reagan Years (New York: George Braziller 1988)
pp.173-174
6.Men of the
Year, (CD-ROM) Time
7.Kazas, Tom, The
World Will Never Be the Same (SIRS 1985)
G1+
8.Men of the
Year, (CD-ROM) Time
9.Men of the
Year, (CD-ROM) Time
10.Kazas, Tom,
The World Will Never Be the Same (SIRS 1985)
G1+
11.Kazas, Tom,
The World Will Never Be the Same (SIRS 1985)
G1+
12.Men of the
Year, (CD-ROM) Time
13.Men of the
Year, (CD-ROM) Time
14.Men of the
Year, (CD-ROM) Time
15.Men of the
Year, (CD-ROM) Time
16.Scott,William
B., Major Cultural Change on Tap in Military Space (CD-
ROM: SIRS 1885)
17.Center for
Defense Information, A New Cold War
Battleground (CD-ROM: SIRS 1990)
18.Denny,
Jeffrey, Star Struck (CD-ROM: SIRS 1991)
19.Men of the
Year, (CD-ROM) Time
20.Men of the
Year, (CD-ROM) Time
21.Men of the
Year, (CD-ROM) Time
22.Men of the
Year, (CD-ROM) Time
23.Men of the
Year, (CD-ROM) Time
24.Men of the
Year, (CD-ROM) Time
25.Men of the
Year, (CD-ROM) Time
26.Men of the
Year, (CD-ROM) Time
Bibliography
³Center for
Defense Information.² A New Cold War
Battleground: SIRS.
CD-ROM.
Jan./Feb. 1990.
³Denny,Jeffrey.² Star Struck:
SIRS.
CD-ROM.
March/April 1991.
³Kazas,Tom.² The World Will Never Be the Same: SIRS.
CD-ROM.
July 7, 1985.
Hodding,Carter. The
Reagan Years. New York: George
Braziller.
1988
³Defense Budget
in 1994.² World Almanac and Book of
Facts. 1996 ed.
³Scott,William
B.² Major Cultural Change on Tap in
Military Space.
CD-ROM. Sep. 18, 1995.
³Men of the
Year.² Time- The Weekly Newsmagazine-
1994 Highlights.
CD-ROM. January 2, 1984.
³Men of the
Year.² Time- The Weekly Newsmagazine-
1994 Highlights.
CD-ROM.
Oct. 1994
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