# Dr. Strangelov...I Mean...Edward Teller Passes **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 10, 2003, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelov-i-mean-edward-teller-passes/200705 "2003-09-10T06:28:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelov-i-mean-edward-teller-passes/200705/1 "2003-09-10T06:28:07Z")
First Warren Zevon, then Leni Riefenstahl, and now [Edward Teller](http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030910/D7TFB0B80.html)–the original man who learned to stop worrying and love the bomb. (Incidentally, I don’t want to give the idea that Zevon somehow belongs in the same group with Hitler’s most talented propagandist and a man who could never say anything bad about nuclear weapons but he might appreciate the perverse irony.) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelov-i-mean-edward-teller-passes/200705/2 "2003-09-10T06:50:25Z")
For anyone interested in Dr. Teller, or the last couple of decades of fascination with high-tech space weaponry, [this](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0671867385/qid=1063177043/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-2120618-2042567?v=glance&s=books) is a must-read. ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelov-i-mean-edward-teller-passes/200705/3 "2003-09-10T07:37:30Z")
I was reading the transcript of the PBS show “The American Experience: Race for the Superbomb” the other day, and his quotes really scare me. The comparison to Dr. Strangelove is really quite appropriate. “Animals will be bred and SLAUGHTERED…!” ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelov-i-mean-edward-teller-passes/200705/4 "2003-09-10T08:12:40Z")
We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when, but I know we’ll meet again some sunny day! ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelov-i-mean-edward-teller-passes/200705/5 "2003-09-10T08:16:25Z")
Why is this in the Pit? Strangelove wasn’t that bad a movie… ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelov-i-mean-edward-teller-passes/200705/6 "2003-09-10T10:03:16Z")
Nor was _Triumph of the Will_. ---
**Author:** ![Nuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea666f/32.png) [@Nuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nuke)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelov-i-mean-edward-teller-passes/200705/7 "2003-09-10T12:19:24Z")
I met Ed Teller when he gave a speech at my college. He was a really interesting guy who had seen and done it all. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelov-i-mean-edward-teller-passes/200705/8 "2003-09-10T12:30:57Z")
**Nuke** What an apt name for this thread. 🙂 Wasn’t Dr. Strangelove the one who couldn’t help giving the “Heil Hitler” all the time? Hardly fair to compare Teller, who I believe fled from the Nazis, with this character. I’d though Von Braun was the more obvious basis for this character - except he had nothing to do with the bomb. - Rune ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelov-i-mean-edward-teller-passes/200705/9 "2003-09-10T13:11:17Z")
I long thought Dr Strangelove was based on Kissinger, the story being that Terry Southern had met him at a party, but I Googled it so you guys couldn’t prove me wrong. Nope, neither he nor Kubrick had heard of Kissinger yet and Strangelove was based on [Teller and von Braun.](http://www.souljerky.com/archives/000120.php) Southern did admit the resemblence to Kissinger was “quite remarkable and a bit scary.” ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelov-i-mean-edward-teller-passes/200705/10 "2003-09-10T14:28:47Z")
I highly recommend [this movie](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000IML5/qid=1063204513/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-2960520-9807102?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846). It has amazing footage of atomic bomb testing, as well as some interesting excerpts from an interview with Teller. His moral-indifference-under-the-cover-of-scientific-curiosity is, or was, pretty scary to me. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelov-i-mean-edward-teller-passes/200705/11 "2003-09-10T16:08:10Z")
> [@](#): > > I long thought Dr Strangelove was based on Kissinger, the story being that Terry Southern had met him at a party, but I Googled it so you guys couldn’t prove me wrong. Nope, neither he nor Kubrick had heard of Kissinger yet and Strangelove was based on Teller and von Braun. Southern did admit the resemblence to Kissinger was “quite remarkable and a bit scary.” You were close, though, **dropzone** ; Kissinger was based on Dr. Strangelove 😃