When Nuclear Brinkmanship Almost Worked: Reykjavik and Why One Person Shouldn't Control Doomsday

A new film examines the 1986 Reykjavik summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, a moment when two nuclear superpowers came closest to actually cutting their arsenals. It's a reminder of something both terrifying and urgent: we've barely moved the needle since then, and the stakes keep climbing.

Here's what makes Reykjavik matter now. At that summit, Reagan and Gorbachev nearly agreed to eliminate all nuclear weapons entirely. They walked away with nothing. Thirty-eight years later, we're not safer. The world's nine nuclear powers hold roughly 12,000 warheads. Fewer than during the Cold War, but more than enough to end human civilization before breakfast. And here's the part that should keep you awake: one person in America, the President, can order a nuclear strike without Congress, without a cabinet, without anyone. No confirmation required. No second opinion. No do-over.

The Common Good Party's position on nuclear weapons is clear: No single person should hold unchecked authority over the most consequential decision in human history. The Doomsday Clock, a real measure maintained by scientists and security experts, sits at 85 seconds to midnight. That's the closest it's been in 79 years. Not because of ideology. Because of physics, miscalculation, and the fact that we've built a system where one tired president at 3 a.m. can start a war no one can stop.

What Reykjavik showed us is that nuclear weapons are negotiable. Reagan and Gorbachev proved that. What it also showed us is that negotiation alone isn't enough, the politics have to align, the moment has to be right, and even then, everything can fall apart. We can't depend on luck anymore.

Read more: New York Times coverage of the film.