We begin bombing in five minutes

At 9:06 a.m. on August 11, 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan made his weekly radio address from Rancho del Cielo, his ranch near Santa Barbara, California.

As he prepared to announce his cancellation of Poland's most favored nation status (in retaliation for suppression of the Polish trade union Solidarity), Reagan called the military government "a bunch of no-good, lousy bums.

[6] U.S. officials were compelled to mollify the Soviet Union and assure the United States' Cold War adversary that "Reagan's offhand remark did not reflect White House policies or U.S. military intentions.

On August 15, someone, whom the National Security Agency described to U.S. Representative Michael D. Barnes as "a wayward operator in the Soviet Far Eastern command", sent a coded message from Vladivostok that said, in part, "We now embark on military action against the U.S.

Japanese and U.S. intelligence decoded the message and raised the alert state in that part of the world; Soviet naval vessels in the North Pacific contacted Vladivostok in confusion.

[9] Reagan's poll numbers took a hit from the political gaffe, temporarily raising the hopes of Walter Mondale's supporters in the 1984 United States presidential election campaign.

[2] Jerry Harrison, of the American rock band Talking Heads, obtained a copy of the recording and used it in the 1984 song "Five Minutes", which he performed under the name Bonzo Goes to Washington.