The SDI: A Further Challenge for the US Anti-Nuclear Movement?

This chapter examines the role of the anti-nuclear movement in the United States in the development of the SDI and how it was communicated to the American public by the Reagan administration. Drawing on newly available archival sources, it reveals that the SDI was developed in part in response to the growing freeze movement in the United States and that Reagan purposefully co-opted the rhetoric of the anti-nuclear movement when describing the initiative. Ultimately, this posed a significant challenge for the freeze movement, which failed to mount to a successful campaign against the SDI.