Finally, Kennedy gave in and resumed underground testing in September and atmospheric testing in March 1962. The Joint Chiefs had been urging Kennedy to resume testing during 1961 but the President and Prime Minister Macmillan sought a treaty with the Russians. Russia resumed atmospheric nuclear testing in August 1961. Kennedy favored such a treaty in 1961 but was diverted by the 'missile gap' and Bay of Pigs invasion and the Berlin Wall crisis in August 1961. The Russians and Americans suspended nuclear testing in 1958 but failed to agree on a Test Ban Treaty. Conservatives had been critical of Eisenhower's attempts at disarmament from 'Open Skies' at Geneva in 1954 to the 'Spirit of Camp David' in 1959.

The book and film were inspired by the disarmament debate at the end of the Eisenhower years and start of the Kennedy years.

from a liberal president who is seeking a disarmament treaty with the Russians, but who is opposed by a right-wing Joint Chiefs and television announcer and politicians. This film is a Cold War thriller about a fictional attempted military plot to take over the government of the U.S. John Houseman as Vice Admiral Farley C.Bart Burns as White House Secret Service Chief.Whit Bissell as Senator Frederick Prentice.Andrew Duggan as Colonel William 'Mutt' Henderson.Edmond O'Brien as Senator Raymond Clark.Ava Gardner as Eleanor 'Ellie' Holbrook.Fredric March as President Jordan Lyman.Kirk Douglas as Colonel Martin 'Jiggs' Casey.Burt Lancaster as General James Mattoon Scott.

Bailey II (who were Washington-based reporters for the Des Moines Register, from their 1962 best-selling novel) Written by Fletcher Knebel & Charles W.19, 1964, by Paramount and Warner Bros., 35mm widescreen black and white, mono sound, 118 mins. Produced by Joel Productions and Seven Arts Productions for $2.2 million, released Feb.

Seven Days in May by Fletcher Knebel