In the War Room in the final scene, the prophet of doom with a frozen smile - the villainous Dr. Strangelove, makes an abrupt turn - signalling the major turn of events for the world. He swings around in his wheelchair from the Big Board, explaining that all is not lost. After making calculations with a circular slide rule, he proposes an idea for a one hundred year plan for survival - life can continue underground until radioactivity diminishes. But he cannot control a slip-of-the-tongue when he addresses the President as "Mein Fuehrer" while dreaming of an underground bunker world populated by "top government and military men" after the impending apocalypse:
Strangelove: I would not rule out the chance to preserve a nucleus of human specimens. It would be quite easy...heh, heh...(He rolls his wheelchair forward into the light) at the bottom of ah...some of our deeper mineshafts. Radioactivity would never penetrate a mine some thousands of feet deep, and in a matter of weeks, sufficient improvements in drilling space could easily be provided.
President: How long would you have to stay down there?
Strangelove: ...I would think that uh, possibly uh...one hundred years...It would not be difficult Mein Fuehrer! Nuclear reactors could, heh...I'm sorry, Mr. President. Nuclear reactors could provide power almost indefinitely. Greenhouses could maintain plant life. Animals could be bred and slaughtered. A quick survey would have to be made of all the available mine sites in the country, but I would guess that dwelling space for several hundred thousands of our people could easily be provided.
President: Well, I, I would hate to have to decide...who stays up and...who goes down.
Strangelove: Well, that would not be necessary, Mr. President. It could easily be accomplished with a computer. And a computer could be set and programmed to accept factors from youth, health, sexual fertility, intelligence, and a cross-section of necessary skills. Of course, it would be absolutely vital that our top government and military men be included to foster and impart the required principles of leadership and tradition.
His thoughts of personal survival underground after the end of the world energize Dr. Strangelove - his left fist slams down and his black-gloved mechanical right arm reflexes into an unintentional Nazi salute ('Sieg Heil'). He pulls his right arm back into his lap, fighting off his own, spring-loaded gloved hand with his good arm. [His affliction, known as 'alien hand syndrome,' is an actual but rare physical affliction due to stroke, brain surgery, infection, or other kinds of brain injury.] With an absurd grin on his face, his own sexual pleasure is kindled as he excitedly talks about selective sexual breeding at a ratio of 10 females to one male. Society's male elite would be surrounded by a contingent of beautiful women in underground hideouts - their couplings would eventually repopulate the planet:
Naturally, they would breed prodigiously, eh? There would be much time, and little to do. Ha, ha. But ah, with the proper breeding techniques and a ratio of say, ten females to each male, I would guess that they could then work their way back to the present Gross National Product within say, twenty years.
The President is concerned about the depression of the grief-stricken survivors: "Wouldn't this nucleus of survivors be so grief-stricken and anguished that they'd, well, envy the dead and not want to go on living?" Strangelove isn't worried, but must first beat his wayward, lethally-impulsive right arm with his left before answering: "When they go down into the mine, everyone would still be alive. There would be no shocking memories, and the prevailing emotion will be one of nostalgia for those left behind, combined with a spirit of bold curiosity for the adventure ahead! Ahhh!"
With his recurring muscular tic, Dr. Strangelove's right arm again reflexes into a Nazi salute. He pulls it back into his lap and beats at it. His gloved hand attempts self-strangulation. Of course, Turgidson is intrigued by the sexual implications of Strangelove's hundred year plan:
Turgidson: Doctor, you mentioned the ratio of ten women to each man. Now, wouldn't that necessitate the abandonment of the so-called monogamous sexual relationship, I mean, as far as men were concerned?
Strangelove: Regrettably, yes. But it is, you know, a sacrifice required for the future of the human race. I hasten to add that since each man will be required to do prodigious...service along these lines, the women will have to be selected for their sexual characteristics which will have to be of a highly stimulating nature.
Russian Ambassador: I must confess, you have an astonishingly good idea there, Doctor.
Re: From Bill Ryan -- the Ultimate Hypothesis
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