March 23, 1983: President Ronald Reagan introduces the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a system designed to allow American missiles to "knock down" missiles launched by the Soviet Union in a nuclear attack. This would give America a "missile shield," making the Communists' weapons obsolete.
If, that is, it worked.
Reagan made the announcement 15 days after his speech at Disney World, calling the Soviet Union "an evil empire."
Someone suggested that the idea for the missile shields was something out of science fiction. This, combined with the "empire" term, led to SDI being called "Star Wars," and accusations that Reagan was treating real life as if it was a movie, his occupation before politics.
Reagan was, among other things, a fiscal conservative. He didn't believe that the federal government should spend gobs of money on things that didn't work. He believed that the federal government should spend gobs of money on defenses, including SDI.
In 2011, Israel began operation of a missile-defense system, a series of 10 missile-intercepting-missile batteries that they call the Iron Dome. It has proven remarkably successful against attacks from Hamas in Gaza, and from Hezbollah in the West Bank and on the Golan Heights. But its range is only about 40 miles. Good enough for a country whose area is roughly that of New Jersey. Not good enough for a country 3,000 miles wide by 1,800 miles long.
As of March 23, 2022, America does not have a missile shield that works. America also does not have the Soviet Union to contend with anymore. SDI was a complete waste of time, money and effort.
In "The Drop-In," a 2001 episode of the TV show The West Wing, President Jed Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen) was a Democrat, as was his White House Chief of Staff, Leo McGarry (John Spencer). McGarry supported the missile shield, Bartlet didn't. (The term "missile shield" was used, while the terms "SDI" and "Star Wars" were not.) A test was run at the beginning of the episode, and the defending missile missed its target by 117 miles.
At the end of the episode, Bartlet accepted Lord John Marbury (Roger Rees) as Great Britain's new Ambassador to the United States, and asked him where he stood on the missile shield. He opposed it. McGarry said that man made the nuclear bomb, and man should make something that will make the nuclear bomb obsolete. Marbury said that's a reasonable thought, especially given McGarry's wartime service. (He was a U.S. Air Force pilot who was shot down over Vietnam.)
But Marbury reminded him of the awful truth: "If you build a shield, someone will build a better missile." And then the shield will be obsolete, not the missile. And the process starts all over again, a new arms race.
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March 23, 1983 was a Wednesday. British sprinter Mo Farah, winner of 4 Olympic Gold Medals, was born on this day.
Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season -- unless you count the newly-started USFL, which was in midweek.
There were 6 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers, 84-81 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.
* The New Jersey Nets beat the Utah Jazz, 124-104 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Atlanta Hawks, 114-102 at the Boston Garden.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 104-101 in overtime at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Indiana Pacers, 109-96 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan. Kelly Tripucka, from Bloomfield, New Jersey, led all scorers on the night with 38 points for the Pistons.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the San Antonio Spurs, 137-117 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.
And there were 5 games played in the NHL:
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Detroit Red Wings, 7-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
* The Washington Capitals and the Vancouver Canucks played to a tie, 1-1 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Minnesota North Stars, 6-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Hartford Whalers, 8-3 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Edmonton Oilers, 7-4 at the Winnipeg Arena.
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