In 1951, the year of the original film, the United States was dealing with hundreds of thousands of Chinese forces that had driven back American and South Korean forces–this a year after North Korean forces almost forced South Korea into the ocean. (“Chosin Reservoir Survivor” means something. Look it up.) In addition, Americans had been dealing with one communist victory after another in eastern Europe and, increasingly, in Asia. Plus, Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committees–among others, including universities–were, they said, uncovering numerous communists and communist sympathizers in every area of American society and government. The Soviet Union had the atomic bomb, and, under the leadership of Josef Stalin, was apparently ready to use it. In other words: not a scene that bred feelings of security and safety. Keep in mind that world leaders from East and West did not meet with each other, not even over the dangerous Berlin Blockade of the late 1940s. They did not trust each other (for good reason, I believe), so why meet?

A final point: 1951 was only six years after the most destructive war in history. Americans had not faced the brunt of that conflict (the Soviet Union had, losing anywhere from 20 to 50 million lives), but a third of a million Americans died in 1941-1945. And thousands were dying in Korea. So, in the ten-to-twelve years up to the release of the film, about 80 million people had died in just two conflicts. Now, there was a weapon more destructive than any used before (except for Hiroshima and Nagasaki). No wonder people worried about its existence and about those who had power to decide on its use?