From nuclear commander to disarmament advocate
Long after the end of the Cold War, the United States and Russia still have enough nuclear weapons on "hair trigger" alert to destroy all life on Earth. Why? It's a question being asked by old Cold Warriors and by the teens of the new nuclear abolition movement — yet one that never seems to penetrate the underground bunkers where America's nuclear soldiers patiently await commands to launch a global holocaust.
Lifting The Shadow visits both the peaceniks and the nuclear warriors to tell the extraordinary story of General George Lee Butler. As commander of the Strategic Air Command, Butler was the highest-ranking commander of America's nuclear forces under President George H.W. Bush, who took office just as the Cold War ended. A nuclear warrior since 1957, Butler's final mission was to dismantle the weapons of doomsday. When politics stood in the way, he abruptly switched sides — joining the peaceniks in the movement to ban nuclear weapons.