The fall of Saigon in 1975 saw an official end to the Vietnam War. Congress and the American people were fed up with the long, bloody, and futile war riddled with atrocities. The Soviet Union was in dire straits due to the inefficiency of their planned economy and heavy military spending. Leaders of both countries were ready to try something new: detente, a reduction of tensions. The US and Soviet Union had negotiated the SALT I treaty a few years prior, and were working towards SALT II, both of which would cap or limit ICBMs, launch sites, and submarine ballistic missile launchers. This period didn’t last long, however. While various treaties capped the number of missiles that each nation could hold, both sides developed new technology that could launch missiles with multiple-independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRVs). In essence, a single missile could carry multiple nuclear warheads, each with the ability to strike different targets. The global superpowers rekindled efforts to spread influence throughout the world, from insurgencies and counterinsurgencies in South America to the strategically located Afghanistan. After the Soviets sent troops in to Afghanistan in 1979, it killed the prospect of the US ratifying the SALT II treaty, and the US instead committed itself to supporting the “Brave Mujahideen Fighters of Afghanistan,” as dedicated in the end credits of Rambo III. We’d see how that decision would pan out 22 years later. All these tensions culminated in 1983, one of the most critical years in the re-heated Cold War. The KGB launched Operation RYAN, an intelligence gathering mission which indicated the US was planning a pre-emptive attack on the USSR. This wasn’t alleviated when the US conducted its most realistic war games to date which simulated a nuclear end scenario. The Soviets were unable to tell if it was just part of the war games, or if the games were used to disguise an actual attack. And in September, Korean Air Lines flight 007 was shot down after entering Soviet airspace. The flight happened to be carrying US Representative from Georgia, Larry McDonald. With all this, the world seemed on the eve of destruction at any moment, inspiring two 1983 classics: the feature film War Games, and made-for TV production The Day After. Now, more than ever, was the perfect time to bring back the ultimate paragon of atomic armageddon: Godzilla.

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