Nearly 60 years after its release, Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb remains one of the greatest satires in American film history. A wicked black comedy about Cold War politics and inadvertent, pre-emptive nuclear attack, it raised questions about the line between fiction and truth – most notably whether some crazed general indeed could order a strike on the Soviet Union without a presidential order. (The answer at that time might stun you.)

Using clips from the 1964 film, military historian Sean Kalic looks at that and other elements of historical accuracy in the latest installment of the Library’s Hollywood vs. History series.

His discussion comes amid the echoing of Cold War tensions and hostilities today.

Kalic, who holds a doctorate in history from Kansas State University, is a professor of military history at the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth. The Hollywood vs. History series is presented in partnership with the Command and General Staff College and made possible by a generous gift from the Jerry Rosenblum Trust.