Welcome to the second installment in my examination of
Stanley Kubrick's classic "nightmare comedy"
Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. During the
first part
of this series I briefly addressed Kubrick's legacy as well as some of
the more popular conspiracy theories surrounding a few of the director's
most revered films. I also briefly addressed the background of
Dr. Strangelove, noting that one of its screenwriters (
Peter George, who also wrote
the novel upon which the film was based) had been a British intelligence officer while another (
Terry Southern) seems to have been involved with the notorious "
Laurel Canyon scene" David McGowan chronicled in
Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon. Finally, some of the parallels between
Dr. Strangelove and the
Kennedy White House where also addressed, most notably a certain incident that unfolded during the
Cuban missile crisis that may have partly inspired the film's plot line.
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| the two writers who collaborated with Kubrick on Strangelove's script, Peter George (top) and Terry Southern (bottom), both had curious and highly suggestive backgrounds |
With this installment I would like to do a run down
Strangelove's
major characters, as many of them are both symbolically loaded and
witty political commentary on major personalities of the day (even if
the film's disclaimer states otherwise, which was apparently added at
the insistence of
Columbia Pictures).
This installment will be written from the perspective that the reader
has already seen the film, so spoilers will abound. It is strongly
recommended that one familiarize them-self with
Strangelove's
plot line
as well as the first installment of this series to get the most out of
this article. This is especially true of the elite power structure
outlined in part one and which is addressed heavily at the end of this
article. Now, with those disclaimers out of the way, on to the
characters.
Let us start with Major T.J. "King" Kong (
Slim Pickens). Originally Kong was supposed to be played by star
Peter Sellers
as one of the four roles he was scheduled to perform in the film.
Stories have varied over the years as to why Sellers dropped out of this
part, but it seems to have been some combination of struggling with the
character's Texas accent (at one point screenwriter Terry Southern, a
Texan, recorded himself reading the lines to give the British Sellers
something to go by) and an injury Sellers sustained very early in
shooting the part.
After Sellers dropped out of the role veteran Western actor Slim Pickens
was brought in and the rest, as they say, is history. Major Kong riding
a nuclear bomb bronco style as it heads for a target in the Soviet
Union (and spurring Doomsday in the process) is still one of the most
iconic images in cinema history.
On the one hand Kong is
chthonic figure surrounded by sexual innuendos. His name is of course a reference to the film
King Kong,
whose name sake was in turn an expression of white fears over the
"primal" nature of black sexuality. Kubrick seems to have some fun
incorporating this racist stereotype into the the character's central
symbolism.
"The B-52 is phallic, particularly in its indefatigable race to coitus.
('What's the nearest target of opportunity?' King shouts.) 'King' Kong
himself is a movie symbol of primitive, civilization-destroying lust.
His bombs are labeled with two notorious sexual salutations: Hi There! (a homosexual advance) and Dear John
(salutation of letter breaking off an affair). Kong plunges towards the
target on the phallic bomb with a yowl of ecstasy. The detonation is
the film's own climax."
(The Cinema of Stanley Kubrick, Norman Kagan, pg.137)
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| yes, the bomb he rides is the one featuring "Hi There!" written on it |
Besides the obvious homosexual innuendo of "Hi There!" written on Kong's
oh-so-phallic nukes, there are numerous other such allusions throughout
the B-52 scenes. There are also a few allusion to transsexuality as
well (the emergency kits each member of the crew is given before the
bomb run inexplicably features several pairs of nylon stockings and a
few lipsticks). These things combined with Kong's association as an
agent of destruction somewhat link him to the mythological concept of
the Egyptian god
Set.
"Set is polymorphously perverse. He'll have sex with anything. He'll do
his mother if he could. He is the symbol of unbridled lust, which is
characterized as evil, vulgar, rapacious, etc. by his parents. Sexuality
is the first thing societies control and legislate. It is the one power
that, if unchecked, can topple governments, impeach presidents,
destroyed careers. Sex must be tied, like Set, to the prow of the Ship
of State or the Ship of Saint Peter... or just the Ship of Fools.
"Set and Shiva the hangout. Both are wild men, living in the wilderness.
Shiva of is the Lord of Destruction, with Brahma (the Lord of Creation)
and Vishnu (Lord of Preservation) forming a holy Sanskrit Trinity. Set
spilled his seed, and so did Shiva."
(The Dark Lord, Peter Levenda, pg. 289)
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| the dreaded Set |
In this context it is interesting to note that Kubrick alludes to sexual
repression being a driving factor behind much of the bizarre behavior
displayed by
Strangelove's characters throughout the film. But more on that later.
The Kong character is also effectively meant to embody the
American pioneer, and Kubrick presents one of the most well known archetypes of this sort with Kong: the
cowboy.
Indeed, once the B-52 has been given the order to attack the Soviet
Union Kong donnes a cowboy hat (which he seemingly kept in the plane's
safe with top secret documents) for the mission. Throughout the film he
shows the kind of heartiness, ingenuity, initiative, and determination
displayed by the American pioneers that were instrumental in launching
Manifest Destiny.
On the flip side of the coin, he also displays the dark side of Manifest
Destiny, namely a blind commitment to an ideology and idea that
ultimately results in genocide on an epic scale. But moving along.
The name of the Soviet ambassador, Alexei de Sadeski (
Peter Bull), is quite interesting. Clearly it is meant to be a reference to the notorious
Marquis de Sade.
De Sade has of course acquired an interesting reputation over the
years, though modern depictions of the Marquis are typically heavily
romanticized. The man himself had quite a dark side.
"The Encyclopaedia Britannica provides the following assessment
of the Marquis: 'de Sade is to some an incarnation of absolute evil, who
advocates the unleashing of instincts even to the point of crime.
Others have looked upon him as a champion of total liberation through
the satisfaction of his desires in all forms...
"Perhaps the most cogent analysis of those writings was provided by Alex Steiner, a contributor to the World Socialist Web Site. Steiner noted that the 'clearest formulation of de Sade's philosophy appears in his Philosophy in the Bedroom
[which] features a philosophical interlude.' Within that interlude lies
a 'philosophical defense, argued in the language of the Enlightenment,
but not, of course, in the spirit of the Enlightenment, that presents a
justification for incest, rape, murder and cruelty.' That interlude is
said to have been published separately in 1848, under the title 'Yet
Another Effort, Frenchmen, If You Would Become Republicans.' It was
intended for distribution as a political manifesto. Among other things,
the tract contained a 'defense of murder as legitimate civil activity
used to weed out the weaker members of society.' Steiner also noted that
writer and film director Pier Paolo Pasolini saw 'in de Sade the
antecedents of fascism.' One of the defining characteristics of de
Sade's philosophy was his 'view of society as composed of atomistic
individuals potentially engaged in a war of all against all,' which is,
of course, precisely the direction in which Western society is being
driven."
(Programmed to Kill, David McGowan, pgs. 342-343)
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| de Sade |
In this context its interesting that Kubrick would assign a name echoing
the Marquis to a Russian character (indeed, the only Russian actually
scene on screen throughout the entire film). But as the final frames of
the film allude to, the Soviet Union was more than willing to use former
Nazis and fascists towards their own end. More on this once I begin
breaking down the film's plot line.
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| the Soviet ambassador |
De Sade's writings (and possibly his real life exploits) also echo the later, romanticized concept of the modern day
serial killer. This may have been a conscious reference on Kubrick's part as another major character, General Jack D. Ripper (
Sterling Hayden), is also named after
a notorious serial killer. Self proclaimed "
revisionist historian" (and
fascist sympathizer)
Michael A. Hoffman II has long associated an occult significance to the concept of "serial murder."
"... Arcadia was an exceedingly antique region of Greece, which predated
the rise of the city states of Athens and Sparta. Arcadia was an
ecological paradise, existing before Terra ran down with the
thermodynamic of pollution and decay. Arcadia's principal attributes are
pastoral, romantic and feminine and its principal symbol is the
underground, specifically an underground gnosis symbolized by a
subterranean river.
"In Arcadia the reign of the Mother Goddess survived longer than in any
other area of Greece. She was personified by Demeter, the goddess of
grain. To bring present-day humanity into the time of vegetative
Arcadia, in occult lore, requires human sacrifice; that is, ceremonial
immolation, or as it is known in modern parlance, 'serial murder.' The
dreaming mind of the Group Mind, upon hearing the words 'serial murder'
or pronouncing them in conversation, is not perceiving them in the
textual abstract, but in the oral-primal, the phonetic domain of dreams.
Therefore what is being invoked in the mind of the masses when the
word, 'serial murder' are broadcast, is not 'serial' murder, but cereal
murder.
"Demeter, the goddess of Arcadia, is alternatively known as Ceres, from whence the word cereal is derived..."
(Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare, Michael A. Hoffman II, pg. 177)
Curiously, the tale of
Oedipus seems to echo this bizarre association of Ceres (who is a variation of the
Great Mother), in her personification as the crone and witch goddess
Hecate (a
Threefold Goddess), with "serial/cereal" killers.
"... As Oidipous journeyed into exile from his 'foreign' homeland, on
the road from Delphi to Thebes, he met Laios – and perhaps Iokasta as
well –, at a parting of the pathway: such forks in the road afford a
traveler the opportunity to change direction; and since it is always
possible to shift into a vertical journey there, each was considered an
Entrance (limen), and was under the jurisdiction of the terrible mother
goddess Hekate, who represented all three aspects of the Queen, together
in one body, as Maiden, Mother, and Witch. The exact spot is still
pointed out to tourists today, as the mountain pass called 'Divide' or
'Three Roads.' When Oidipous, returning from his 'Foreign' Sojourn, came
up to Laios at the divide, the 'king' was riding (with Iokasta) in a
horse-drawn chariot, driven by his henchmen Polyphontes, the 'Serial
Killer.' There was room for travelers and only one direction at a time;
and Laios plunged forward, driving his chariot right over Oidipous's
foot (as if this were still the moment of the infant's maiming and
exposure), and he even treated the 'foreigner' like a horse, striking
him in the head with his goad as he drove down by..."
"Oidipous retaliated by killing Laios and his 'Serial Killer,' making
the sacrificers into their own victims. (Remember that this all took
place on the road to Delphi, to and fro, and up and down, where the old
Apollo maintained a slaughterous henchmen called the 'Knife.') And then
Oidipous took possession of the Queen, perhaps right there on the spot,
as she raged in maenadic grief on the mountainside..."
(The World of Classical Myth, Carl A.P. Ruck and Danny Staples, pg. 251)
The mysterious figure of
Polyphontes (of whom there are several in Greek mythology) is seemingly referred to as a "Serial Killer" by
Ruck and Staples due to the literal meaning of his name (in the
The Greek Myths Robert Graves
translates Polyphontes as "murderer of many"). The scenario outlined
above certainly echoes Hoffman's concept of the "cereal killer": Oedipus
slays his father and his serial killer henchman at a three-way
crossroads, thus performing a sacrifice to Hecate. Hecate in turn is the
Crone/Witch to Demeter/Ceres' Great Mother.
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| Hecate |
Of course, the concept of the serial killer was hardly a pop culture staple in 1964 when
Strangelove
was released and certainly not while it was going through
pre-production (the earliest public use of the phrase "serial killer"
was in the 1966 book
The Meaning of Murder). However, what is now referred to as a serial killer was sometimes called a "
mass murderer"
during this era, which may have been Kubrick's inspiration. Certainly
General Jack D. Ripper conspires to be a mass murderer on an epic scale
while the Russian ambassador (who is named after an author who wrote
glowingly of mass murder) is the one tasked with explaining the Soviet
Union's
Doomsday Machine, a tool of mass murder. At one point during the film President Muffley (Peter Sellers) tells General Buck Turgidson (
George C. Scott): ""General Turgidson, I will not go down in history as the greatest mass murderer since Adolf Hitler." But I digress.
The two chief historical inspirations for the character of General Jack D. Ripper seem to have been General
Edwin Walker and General
Curtis LeMay. LeMay was a figure whom was briefly addressed in
part one of this series when discussing a certain incident involving an American
U-2 spy plane in the midst of the Cuban missile crisis that may have dramatically escalated the situation. Of all the
Joint Chiefs of Staff
during the Cuban missile crisis, LeMay was by far the most militant. He
adamantly denounced Kennedy's decision to blockade Cuba instead of
launching a full scale invasion. This led to one of the most heated
exchanges on the American side during the Cuban missile crisis.
"On October 19, Kennedy had a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Kennedy got into a back and forth with the hawkish Air Force General
Curtis LeMay. LeMay was infamous for his firebombing strategies of
Japanese cities, which left tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of
civilians dead. LeMay frowned upon the blockade option. He also looked
askance on Kennedy's worry that if he invaded Cuba, Khrushchev would
take over West Berlin. LeMay predicted the opposite effect: 'If we don't
do anything in Cuba, then they're going to push on Berlin and push real
hard because they've got us on the run.' LeMay, who was never one to
mince words, then went even further. To show his utter disdain for the
blockade concept, the World War II veteran actually brought up something
rather bizarre. He said, 'The blockade and political action, I see
leading into war... This is almost as bad as the appeasement at Munich.'
LeMay was now comparing Kennedy's preference for the blockade with
Neville Chamberlain's giving away the Sudetenland to the Nazis, which
encouraged Hitler to invade Poland. Although not expressing themselves
in such extreme figures of speech, the rest of the chiefs of staff
agreed with LeMay. LeMay them brought up Kennedy's September 13 comment
about how seriously he would take the Russians making an offensive base
out of Cuba, 'I think that a blockade, and political talk, would be
considered by a lot of our friends and neutrals as being a pretty weak
response to this. And I'm sure a lot of our own citizens would feel that
way too. You're in a pretty bad fix, Mr. President.' To which Kennedy
replied that unless he had not noticed, LeMay was in there with him.
Before Kennedy left he closed with, 'I appreciate your views. These are
unsatisfactory alternatives.'
"As startling as this dialogue was, what followed after Kennedy left the
room equaled it. Marine Commandant David Shoup told LeMay, 'You pulled
the rug right out from under him. Goddamn. LeMay laughed and said,
'Jesus Christ. What the hell do you mean?' Shoup replied with, 'He
finally got around to the word "escalation." That's the only goddamn
thing that is the whole trick. Go in and get out and get every goddamn
one.' To which LeMay replied, 'That's right.'"
(Destiny Betrayed, James DiEugenio, pgs. 63-64)
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| General LeMay |
While I've been unable to determine who dispatched the ill-advised U-2
flight, LeMay or one of his underlings would certainly make a prime
candidate. While the bulk of the Joint Chiefs were upset by Kennedy's
handling of the Cuban missile crisis, LeMay seems to have been down
right disgusted. "Incidentally", he would be flown in specially to
attend JFK's autopsy (for more on LeMay's part in the
Kennedy assassination, check
here).
While LeMay's real life actions may have partly inspired Ripper, his
fanatical anti-Communism and conspiratorial world view was clearly
modeled upon that of General Edwin Walker, another figure long linked to
the Kennedy assassination (I wrote briefly on his involvement before
here).
Walker would first come to the public's attention in 1961 when he
issued a manifesto declaring that communism was a "satanic enemy of
mankind" and that it "must be destroyed by a concentrated and determined
effort of all God's people." Shortly thereafter it was revealed that he
had been indoctrinating his troops with literature provided by the
John Birch Society, the organization from which virtually a modern day libertarian-centric conspiracy theories originate.
"No element of the John Birch Society's efforts at influence drew
greater fire than the revelation, by the U.S. military newspaper Overseas Weekly,
that a high-ranking Army officer was using Birch books and magazines to
attempt to 'indoctrinate' U.S. troops stationed in Europe. The Walker
controversy broke several months before Senate Foreign Relations
Committee Chairman William Fulbright made public his controversial memo
on the influence of elite right-wing groups on the National War College.
That Major General Edwin A. Walker, a World War II and Korean War hero
then commanding the Twenty-Fourth Infantry Division, could be extending
the military's Cold War ideological training program for soldiers to
include the John Birch Society's worldview was intolerable to many
government leaders. Walker was denounced on the floor of the U.S. Senate
when Senator William Proxmire (D-WI) called for the general's dismissal
and said the incident showed that the fight against communism should be
handled by 'intelligent' people and not left to 'morons.' Days later,
the Army relieved Walker of his command in Germany, and several months
later Walker resigned.
"At the time of the Walker case, the New York Times noted that
the General was operating within the mandates of standing National
Security Council policy calling for a full-scale Cold War mobilization
at all levels of the government. The Defense Department had been ordered
to educate troops on 'national security' concerns; commanding officers
were provided with literature and audio-visual material and required to
report regularly on their training activities. According to the New York Times,
Walker's 'special warfare' training program was not the only one in
which overzealous military personnel charged the U.S. government itself
with communist subversion."
(Roads to Dominion, Sara Diamond, pg. 57)
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| General Walker |
Kubrick hints throughout
Strangelove that the anti-communist
indoctrination the U.S. Military employs is all to effective, as shall
be addressed in greater depth when I begin breaking down the film's plot
line. Before leaving Walker, its also interesting to note that he was
likely a closet homosexual (Walker was arrested more than once for
"lewd" behavior in a men's restroom). Kubrick hints throughout
Strangelove
that Ripper is a closet homosexual (must amusingly via his perpetual
sucking upon his phallic cigars) and that his breakdown stems from his
repressed sexuality.
Before moving along a word should be said about the man who played General Jack D. Ripper, namely
Sterling Hayden. Hayden was a colorful figure who first gained onscreen success by starring in gritty
film noir pics throughout the 1950s, most notably
The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and Kubrick's own
The Killing (1956). Later on he would become an acclaimed character actor after his role in
Strangelove and other high profile films such as
The Godfather.
That Hayden's career would remain so vibrant throughout the 1950s is a
bit surprising, however, as he was briefly a member of the Communist
Party during the late 1940s and the early part of the following decade.
Eventually he cooperated with the
House of Un-American Activities
and named names for the Committee, though he later insisted all the
names he gave up were already in the Committee's possession.
Many actors, directors, screenwriters and so forth had their careers
destroyed for far less, but Hayden was seemingly little effected by
these choices. This might have been due to the fact that, during WWII,
Hayden had served in the
OSS (the predecessor organization the CIA) under
William "Wild Bill" Donovan himself (at one point Hayden reportedly claimed that it had been
Donovan who had suggested he become an actor in the first place).
Donovan is an interesting figure. Despite being closely associated with
the Wall Street establishment (which in turn is under the thumb of the
Anglo-American Establishment discussed in
part one) throughout his life Donovan, a Catholic, was also a member of the
Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
As one of the most reactionary organizations of the modern era, this
indicates that Donovan would have also had ties to what can aptly be
described as the "Reich Wing" Establishment. I've discussed these ties
before
here.
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| "Wild Bill" |
Hayden turned in the performance of his career as Ripper and arguably upstaged even Peter Sellers in
Strangelove.
But then again, he likely would have been well placed to know the type
of individuals he was parodying. As for his time in the OSS, it was
seemingly every bit as adventurous as the characters he frequently
played. He used the name "Josh Hamilton" for this endeavor. Of his OSS
exploits,
The Washington Post noted:
"He left nine years of seafaring and his early Hollywood acting career
to join the Marine Corps and the OSS under the assumed name of John
Hamilton in 1941. His mastery of the seas -- he was first mate on a
schooner voyage around the world in 1936 and captained a ship from
Gloucester, Mass., to Tahiti in 1939 -- led OSS officials to have him
set up secret shipping operations based in Italy. He was attacked by the
Germans and operated behind enemy lines in Croatia...
"From a promotion recommendation for Hayden in April 1944, contained in
the roughly 85 pages of his OSS file: 'Lt. Hamilton conducted a
reconnaissance of the Dalmation Islands to plot alternate shipping
routes in event of German invasion, which then was starting. He was
strafed by German planes, and . . . conducted himself in a brave
manner.'"
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| Hayden |
By all accounts Hayden was a fine sailor. In point of fact, he routinely
expressed disdain for acting and long insisted that he only did it to
pay for his boats and extended voyages. It seems that throughout his
life Hayden put his film career on hold and departed on one of his ships
for an extended voyage that some times lasted for years. But moving
along.
Generals LeMay and Edwin Walker have also been cited as inspirations for the character of General Buck Turgidson (
George C. Scott, who also appeared in two of Recluse's favorite and most esoterically-laden supernatural horror films:
The Changeling and
The Exorcist III) though there are other possible candidates. One is General
Nathan Twining, another far right wing Air Force man who served as the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under
Eisenhower.
Certainly Scott seems to bear more than a passing resemblance to
Twining in the film. But beyond this, Twining was a major proponent of
massive retaliation even if he wasn't quite as radical as LeMay. He was a
member of the far right wing think tank the
American Security Council (of which I've written at great length on before
here; another excellent account of this highly secretive
NGO can also be found
here) and has also long been cited as a member of the highly speculative
Majestic 12 by UFOlogists as well.
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| Twining (top) and Scott as Turgidson (bottom) |
A more likely candidate, however, is the man who succeed Twining as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Army General
Lyman Lemnitzer.
Lemnitzer had enjoyed a close relationship with Eisenhower and was
appointed to the post in 1960 before Ike vacated office. By all accounts
Lemnitzer was one of the most fanatical right wing officers of his era.
"The synchronized precision ballet of the National Socialist state
exerted a powerful magnetism over Lemnitzer. He believed Germany's
brilliant, original and courageous generals should have earned the
plaudits of all civilized people for the pursuit of a selfless crusade
against communism. The future chief of all Allied forces in Europe
learned from his encounters with Nazi creeds that war was pointless,
unless waged with total ruthlessness. The race that intended to survive
and dominate should never flinch from the final solution. Thus, the
crypto-theology of exterminating an entire civilization, deranged
eugenics pursued to the final logical conclusion, passed from the Nazi
code of war to the American one, enthusiastically endorsed by General
Lemnitzer. He was at the forefront of a cadre of Right-wing officers in
league with an influential cabal of Washington think-tank mavens
preaching not only that nuclear weapons were fully usable in a general
sense, but also that nuclear war was actually winnable. They clustered
around the fanatical atomic zealot Herman Kahn, Kubrick's inspiration
for Dr. Strangelove. Kahn argued the United States would always
need the capability to destroy opponents with a pre-emptive strike so
enormous that target nations would be wiped from the face of the earth –
the 'more is always better' fantasia. Kahn and his friends cheerfully
argued that far from ultimate Doomsday, life would go one, as it had
after the Black Death of the 14th century. In the White House, and under
Lemnitzer's influence, Eisenhower too surrendered to the braying of the
nuclear hawks..."
(Gladio: NATO's Dagger at the Heart of Europe, Richard Cottrel, pgs. 90-91)
Lemnitzer certainly seems to have taken
Kahn's ideas to heart. By the time JFK came to office Lemnitzer had developed quite a plan:
"At a national security meeting on July 20, 1961, Joint Chiefs of Staff
chairman Lyman Lemnitzer and General Hickey, the chairman of the 'Net
Evaluation Subcommittee,' presented the president with a plan to launch a
devastating first-strike nuclear attack against the Russians. By
crunching the numbers, they calculated that even though at that moment
the Soviet Union barely had the ability to respond to an American
missile launch, the best time to carry out an American first strike
against them would not come until 'late 1963, preceded by a period of
heightened tensions.'
"The Strategic Air Command called this a 'counterforce' force strategy,
because it required that the United States aims its nuclear missiles at
Soviet nuclear weapons instead of cities to make a priority out of
annihilating its nuclear weapons capability before it could get off the
ground. According to a Pentagon history of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
General Lemnitzer consider the creation of this plan 'to be among the
most important achievements of this era' with which 'its existence
created a new or of confidence' for the military men who knew of it.
"Kennedy asked what would happen if the United States launched a first
strike before 1963. The CIA director, who was in attendance, answered
that if he struck before the optimal time window 'the attack would be
much less effective since there would be considerably fewer missiles
involved.' The United States would have so many missiles that by late
1963 it would be able to lay the Soviet Union completely to waste and
the Russians probably would only be able to get a few missiles off or
bombs into the United States in response, if even that. Carl Kaysen, who
helped with the plan, thought it had a 90 percent chance of wiping out
all Soviet missiles before they could retaliate. In the aftermath of a
successful first strike, Americans would have been able to simply sit in
designated fall-out shelters to protect themselves from the radioactive
dust blowing across the ocean from Russia. By 1964, though, the Soviets
would probably have enough operational missiles to make a successful
first strike impossible. That is, unless the United States built the
three thousand or ten thousand missiles the air force recommended
instead of stopping at the one thousand that were slated to be
constructed.
"According to notes of the meeting, Kennedy then asked how long people
would have to stay in fallout shelters if he gave their plan the
go-ahead. One of the authors of the attack report 'replied that no
specific period of time can be cited due to the variables involved, but
generally speaking, a period of two week should be expected.' Scientists
later argued that such an attack on the Soviet Union would have thrown
so much soot and smoke into the atmosphere that it would have made the
planet unlivable by creating a 'nuclear winter' ice age, but these men
had not considered that possibility. People would have come out of their
shoulders to a living hell. 'The President directed that no member in
attendance at the meeting disclose even the subject of the meeting,'
records a summary of the discussion given to Vice President Lyndon
Johnson."
(The War State, Michael Swanson, pgs. 297-299)
 |
| Lemnitzer |
It certainly seems possible that aspects of this meeting were known to
Kubrick, or one of his fellow screenwriters. At one point during the
film General Turgidson advocates following General Ripper's lead and
launching a first strike against the Soviet Union, musing:
"... If, on the other hand, we were to immediately launch an all-out and
coordinated attack on all their airfields and missile bases, we'd stand
a damn good chance of catchin' 'em with their pants down. Hell, we've
got a five-to-one missile superiority as it is. We could easily assign
three missiles to every target and still have a very effective reserve
force for any other contingency. Now, Six: An unofficial study, which we
undertook of this eventuality, indicated that we would destroy 90% of
their nuclear capabilities. We would therefore prevail and suffer only
modest and acceptable civilian casualties from the remaining force which
would be badly damaged and uncoordinated."
Was this a reference to the very real study General Lemnitzer
incorporated into his plan for a massive first strike against the Soviet
Union? As we shall see, this is hardly the only moment in which the
film appears to be leaking national secrets to the general public.
Before leaving with Lemnitzer, a few more points should be made: Shortly after the
Bay of Pigs debacle Lemnitzer proposed launching
Operation Northwoods, a
false flag operation
in which the US Military would launch a series of terror attacks
against the US public and blame them on Cuba, thus generating support
for an invasion. This proposal, which Kennedy shot down, was classified
until 1997.
Lemnitzer has also been suspected of being the military officer who
approved General Edwin Walker's use of Bircher literature to
indoctrinate troops in addition to playing a role in the Kennedy
assassination, as I noted before
here.
Lemnitzer was denied a second term as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff by Kennedy and departed the post shortly before the Cuban missile
crisis. He would take over Supreme Allied Command of
NATO in Europe where he seems to have played a key role in developing what is commonly referred to as "
Operation Gladio" (which bears some striking similarities to Operation Northwoods). But I digress.
 |
| a Northwoods memorandum |
Before moving along from Turgidson, its also interesting to note that
Kubrick hints at the general struggling with monogamist relationships
throughout the film. In the midst of the debate over how to handle the
unfolding crisis General Turgidson's "secretary" calls him in the War
Room to inquire into his whereabouts. He assures her that their
relationship "isn't only physical" and suggest that she start her
"countdown." Later on, as Dr. Strangelove as unveiling his plan for
surviving Armageddon, Turgidson asks if the need to replenish the human
population will mean the end of the monogamist relationship and is most
pleased with the doctor's answer. Turgidson's struggle with societal
norms concerning monogamy is another indication of sexual repression
driving psychotic behavior.
President Merkin Muffley is one of three roles played by the legendary
Peter Sellers in the film. Sellers, like many of the individuals involved in
Strangelove,
has a curious background. He severed in the RAF during WWII, but
apparently in a comedy troupe. His portrayal of Group Captain Lionel
Mandrake, another
Strangelove character, was said to have been
based upon the officers he observed during this time. Sellers would
later become a Freemason, but he apparently held a
rather contemptuous view of the Order. David McGowan notes that he was an occasional visitor to the notorious Laurel Canyon scene in
Weird Scenes From the Canyon.
Strangelove screenwriter Terry Southern also seems to have been involved in this scene, as noted in
part one of this series.
 |
| Sellers |
While President Muffley is clearly meant as a stand-in for JFK his mannerism and appearance were modeled after those of
Adlai Stevenson II. Stevenson was one of the most despised figures of the Reich Wing/
military-industrial complex establishment and the "grassroots" far right during this era. Stevenson, a long time member of the
Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), was pure Anglo-American Establishment (what conspiracy theorists are referring to when they rail against the CFR, the
Round Table group, the
Trilateral Commission,
the international bankers, etc). Stevenson ran unsuccessful for
president twice, being defeated each time by fellow CFRer Dwight
Eisenhower.
Eisenhower, however, was very much under the spell of the military
industrial complex, then masquerading as "neo-isolationists" (despite
their endless denouncements of the Anglo-American Establishment as being
"soft" on communism). While the Anglo-American Establishment maintained
a strong presence in his presidency Eisenhower's election marked the
beginning of an ongoing post-WWII rift amongst the American power
structure. Purists within the Anglo-American Establishment would
continue to rally around Stevenson as the Reich Wing gained ever more
influence over Eisenhower throughout his administration.
"Within this framework foreign-policy was boxed, even more narrowly,
between the realities of the country's world position and the constant
hounding of the neo-isolationist groups in Congress who had been roused
to a pitch of unholy expectation by the encouragement they had received
from Eisenhower and Nixon during the electoral campaign of 1952. In that
campaign, they had discovered that Eisenhower could be pushed. They now
concluded that there pushing from without, combined with the pulling of
Dulles and Nixon from within, could overthrow the foreign-policy lines
established by the Truman administration in the preceding six years and
create a new policy more in accord with their mistaken ideas of the
nature of the world. Opposed to this change were the old defenders of
the Atlantic System, the remnants of former Wall Street influence, the
Ivy League colleges, the foundations, the newspaper spokesman of this
point of view (The New York Times and Herald Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, and Washington Post), led by Walter Lippman, and the unrepentant scientists and 'eggheads' straggling behind a Adlai Stevenson."
(Tragedy and Hope, Carroll Quigley, pgs. 988-989)
 |
| Stevenson |
In many ways its hard to separate the President Muffley and Group
Captain Mandrake characters from one another as they are effectively
meant as a stand-in for the Anglo-American Establishment in their
respective locations (the War Room and Burpleson Air Force, which Ripper
commands, respectively). As was noted in
part one,
Kubrick seems to have been loosely affiliated with the Anglo-American
Establishment during this time and it is reflected in his portrayal of
Muffley and Mandrake. While either is character is frequently described
as weak, in point of they are both quite clever.
Mandrake is tasked with coaxing the recall codes to the B-52s from the
demented mind of Ripper. He fails and Ripper commits suicide before
revealing anything. Undeterred, Mandrake is still able to deduce the
letters of the code from the inane ramblings Ripper left behind. While
this is unfolding President Muffley walks a tight rope between the
drunken Soviet premier and his cunning ambassador on the on side and his
fanatical military men on the other. Muffley is able to forge a united
front with the Soviets to disable the bombs and is greatly aided in this
cause by Mandrake's cracking of the code.
Muffley and Mandrake are able to successfully maneuver the mine fields
of these respective personalities and nearly hold off Armageddon. In the
end the are not foiled by the Soviets or the hawks, but by the American
yeoman and their ingenuity in carrying out the designs of mad men.
 |
| Sellers as President Muffley (top) and Group Captain Mandrake (bottom) |
Even the names of these two characters constitute a sexual play on one
another. Both the President's first and last name were references to the
vulva during this era while Mandrake's last name alludes to the male member and indeed the
plant barring that name displays some physical resemblance to said member. Mandrake root is also an
entheogen
long associated the occult. In some Europe traditions it was said to be
used by witches at their Sabbaths while Norse legends claim it can be
used to summon powerful gods. Mandrake root can be used to make
scopolamine, a substance sometimes used in the CIA's behavior modification experiments (scopolamine combined with
morphine can create a state dubbed "
twilight sleep").
 |
| mandrake roots |
Whether Kubrick knew he was naming the Mandrake character after an
entheogen is highly debatable, but it is most apt either way. Mandrake,
in the almost surreal scenes in Ripper's office, does undergo a
nightmare trip that he just barely emerges from triumphantly.
Finally, we come to Dr. Strangelove himself. As noted above, one
inspiration was "futurist", military strategist and Hudson Institute
founder Herman Kahn (who first rose to prominence working for the
RAND Corporation;
in the film Dr. Strangelove speaks of commissioning the "Bland"
Corporation to study the feasibility of a Doomsday Machine). Another
individual often put forth is
Henry Kissinger, though Kubrick and Sellers have long denied this.
"... Much talk over the years surrounded the similarities between Dr.
Strangelove and Dr. Henry Kissinger. Kissinger had been a Harvard
professor and the author of a book on nuclear warfare, but neither
Kubrick nor Peter Sellers had seen the man who was later to become
President Nixon's secretary of state. 'Strangelove's accent was probably
inspired by physicist Edward Teller, who became known as the father of
the H-bomb,' Kubrick told Alexander Walker, 'though Teller's origins are
Hungarian and his accent isn't really that close to what Peter did.'"
(Stanley Kubrick: A Biography, Vincent Lobrutto, pg. 239)
 |
| Kissinger |
Kissinger has long been linked to the Anglo-American Establishment and was thus an unlikely inspiration in this case.
Edward Teller, a far right ideologue and member of the American Security Council (of which I wrote at length on
here), was surely a partial inspiration, however. Kubrick reportedly read several of Teller's publications while researching
Strangelove.
The chief inspiration, in this researcher's opinion, was likely
Wernher von Braun
(Peter Sellers himself seems to have cited von Braun as well). Von
Braun, a rocket scientist, is most well known today for his work with
NASA during the early years of the
Space Race. Less well known is the fact that von Braun was brought to these United States as part of
Operation Paperclip,
a program started by the Pentagon and the OSS (and continued by the
CIA) in the wake of WWII to smuggle Nazi scientists into America. While
it was later claimed that these scientists had not been fanatical Nazis,
von Braun himself would seem to indicate otherwise.
"Warner von Braun's report had been one of the first to arrive. The OMGUS Security Report
noted that von Braun was considered an ardent Nazi and a security
threat to the United States. His records indicated that he'd been a
major in the SS – having joined the SS at the personal behest of SS
chief Himmler in 1940 – a student at an SS riding school, and a Nazi
party member since 1937. JIOA had sent his report back to Germany and
asked U.S. intelligence officers there to verify von Braun's political
background and report any extenuating circumstances surrounding his SS
membership."
(Secret Agenda, Linda Hunt, pg. 109)
 |
| von Braun |
There were none. Von Braun's research had used slave labor from the
Mittelbau-Dora
concentration camp. Von Braun would later denounce the use of this
labor but there are reports that he personally abused the prisoners
while serving there.
The presence of an obvious Nazi scientist in the War Room and as a
scientific adviser to President Muffley is almost surely meant as an
illusion to Operation Paperclip. Kubrick seems to have already been in
contact with NASA during the early 1960s and was well placed on many
levels to be aware of this fact.
And with I shall wrap things up for now. With the next installment I'll
begin breaking down the plot line in earnest. Stay tuned.
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