Then, showing the devastating effects of nuclear war was ever so important, because the political objective was unilateral disarmament. With 24, it is being tough on terror, so suddenly they are so squeemish.
From Wiki:
"Reaction
On the night of its television broadcast (Sunday, November 20, 1983), ABC opened several 1-800 hotlines with counselors standing by to calm jittery viewers. After the film's broadcast ABC also aired a live and very heated debate between scientist Carl Sagan, who openly opposed nuclear proliferation and Conservative writer William F. Buckley, Jr., who promoted the concept of "nuclear deterrence". During the debate, Sagan discussed the concept of nuclear winter and made his famous analogy, equating the arms race to "two sworn enemies standing waist-deep in gasoline. One with three matches, the other with five." The film's effect was also felt in Kansas City and Lawrence. One psychotherapist counseled a group that watched at Shawnee Mission East High School in the Kansas City suburbs, and 1,000 others held candles at a peace vigil in Penn Valley Park in downtown Kansas City. ABC News knew that the peace vigil was staged with Hollywood extras, but omitted this fact from their broadcasts. In Lawrence, a discussion group called Let Lawrence Live was formed by the English department at the university, and several dozen more people from the Humanities department gathered on the University of Kansas campus in front of the university's Memorial Campanile and lit candles in a peace vigil.
The film provoked much political debate in the United States. Some argued that the film underscored the true personal horror of nuclear conflict[citation needed], and that the United States should therefore renounce the 'first use' of nuclear weapons, a policy which had been a cornerstone of NATO defense planning in Europe. Those arguing for a nuclear freeze also relied on the sheer horror depicted in the film for support.
Students were invited back to school that night to watch it as a group, and then talk to teachers/counselors about it. I stayed home and watched with my family. I remember my grandfather saying something like, 'f'ing commies' as he peeked from behind his crossword puzzle.