Politics

The plot of Visit to a Small Planet concerns Kreton, an alien visitor, who invades a middle-class home in 1957 America. After he announces his plans to engage the world in a full-scale war for his own entertainment, the characters respond to this threat in ways that reveal their political ideas and ideals. Kreton has used his powers of mind to levitate all of the rifles in the world for fifteen seconds and both General Powers and Roger Spelding assume the Russian Army is behind the stunt. Roger explains to his television audience that the Russians have "launched a new anti-gravity force which suspended all the nfles in the free world some fifty feet off the ground." He continues by stating, "late this afternoon ... Moscow, in an obvious move to avert suspicion, accused the United States of lifting all the nfles in the Communist world one hundred seven feet...