Didn't just shock a generation, it shocked the President. There is the apocryphal story about Ronald Reagan, a former Hollywood actor who turned politician, wh

Didn't just shock a generation, it shocked the President. There is the apocryphal story about Ronald Reagan, a former Hollywood actor who turned politician, who saw The Day After and asked his staff if would really be that bad. His staff, hardened Cold War generals and such, replied that it would be so, so much worse. This spooked the hell out of Reagan, and led him to reach out to the USSR to ease tensions. Didn't stop him from building deterrents in the form of Star Wars, etc. though...