Overview

• The ABC made-for-television movie 'The Day After' premiered 40 years ago, changing the way many Americans thought about nuclear war.
• The film depicted a nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union, and was watched by roughly 100 million people, making it the most-watched made-for-television movie in history.
• The film was intended to force Americans to grapple with what nuclear war would mean, and it was met with significant controversy and debate, including from the Reagan administration.
• Despite initial criticism, Ronald Reagan acknowledged in his autobiography that the film put him on the path to cooperation with Mikhail Gorbachev that resulted in them signing the Intermediate-Range and Nuclear Forces Treaty several years later.
• Today, the nuclear threat remains, with many more nations armed with nuclear weapons, the threat of loose nukes, and recent threats from Russia due to the ongoing ground war in Ukraine.