In 1952 the United States successfully detonated their first hydrogen bomb, which was 700 times more powerful than the atomic bomb from Hiroshima (Maland 252). Less than a year later, the Soviet Union made it known that they had accomplished the same feat. Not wanting to be outdone by each other, the US and the Soviet Union entered the arms race.
[...] The approach was financially appealing, since “military spending fell form 66 to 49 percent during Eisenhower's two terms,” since the local defensive powers were replaced with nuclear weapons and delivery systems (Faragher 773). Kubrick satirizes the concept of deterrence with the Doomsday device in his film. This was a piece of technology developed by the Soviet Union that would “automatically detonate if a nuclear weapon [was] dropped on the Soviet Union, destroying all human life on the planet” (Maland 257). [...]
[...] Although Kubrick's film incorporates several satirical themes highlighting flaws in American policy, it also exemplifies some great qualities of the United States during the mid-century. Colonel Bat Guano represents the US army's diligent fight to protect democratic capitalism. When he allows Captain Lionel Mandrake to attempt a phone call to the President, only to find that he's short of change, Guano is hesitant to shoot the lock of the change box of a soda machine. He argues that it's private property, and shouldn't be damaged, reflecting the military's adamant value of protecting American's right to liberty and private property. [...]
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