First Strike (Full)

First Strike is a 1979 film created by KRON-TV and Chronicle Publishing Companyunder the broadcast division name "Chronicle Broadcasting Company" in partnership with the United States Department of Defense and the RAND Corporation. The film discusses the United States Armed Forces strategy for dealing with nuclear warfare and became far better known when various clips were edited into the 1983 TV film The Day After.

Plot[edit]

The film is divided into two main segments. The first section of the film is a dramatization of a sneak attack by Soviet Union nuclear weapons against the United States. The premise of the attack is based on Soviet nuclear submarines approaching the United States West Coast and launching a barrage of missiles at ICBM silos and B-52 bomberbases, and other Soviet forces manage to destroy a number of U.S. ballistic missile submarines at sea. In the film, when Strategic Air Command is able to launch a retaliatory strike, over 80% of U.S. strategic forces have been destroyed, and the President of the United States is forced to surrender to the Soviets under threat of U.S. urban centers being destroyed. U.S. casualties are stated to be eight million dead; the "low" number is because of the Soviet attack hitting military bases, instead of cities.

The second portion of the film is a series of interviews in which analysts discuss U.S. security and the ability of the Soviet military to attack with little to no warning. The interviewees mention and advocate the MX missile system, which was in the 1980s fielded as the LGM-118 Peacekeeper. However, not all aspects of the MX system were implemented.