GBH Openvault
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Zero Hour; Interview with Ronald Mason, 1987
Part of War and Peace in the Nuclear Age.
11/11/1987
Ronald Mason was the Chief Scientific Adviser at the British Ministry of Defence from 1977-1983. In the interview he discusses the modernization of British nuclear forces. He describes the process of deciding the best way to replace the Polaris missile through cooperation with either the United States or France in order to achieve a British independent deterrent. Among the varied challenges are: assessing new technologies, convincing the Americans to cooperate, and defining the nature and requirements of an independent deterrent. He discusses questions of nuclear strategy in light of the forthcoming Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
License Clip
- Series
- War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
- Program
- Zero Hour
- Program Number
110
- Title
Interview with Ronald Mason, 1987
- Series Description
The first atomic explosion in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945, changed the world forever. This series chronicles these changes and the history of a new era. It traces the development of nuclear weapons, the evolution of nuclear strategy, and the politics of a world with the power to destroy itself.
In thirteen one-hour programs that combine historic footage and recent interviews with key American, Soviet, and European participants, the nuclear age unfolds: the origin and evolution of nuclear weapons; the people of the past who have shaped the events of the present; the ideas and issues that political leaders, scientists, and the public at large must confront, and the prospects for the future. Nuclear Age highlights the profound changes in contemporary thinking imposed by the advent of nuclear weapons. Series release date: 1/1989
- Program Description
President Reagan and Soviet Secretary Gorbachev sign the INF Agreement to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons from Europe. No one had expected the European Missile Crisis to end this way.
The story begins in 1979, when the Western Allies were worried about the Soviet Union’s buildup of SS-20 nuclear missiles aimed at Western Europe. Under pressure from the Carter Administration, NATO issued a threat, if the SS-20s were not removed, NATO would install new American missiles in Europe. The threat revived the dormant anti-nuclear movement in Western Europe, giving them an anti-American tone. In 1981, President Reagan made a proposal that the US would cancel deployment of the missiles if the Soviet Union would dismantle all the intermediate range missiles it had pointed at Europe. This was the “zero-zero” option. The Soviet Union was entering a period of change with three leaders dying in three years. In 1986 Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev offered to accept the “zero-zero” option and in 1987 the INF agreement was signed.
- Duration
00:25:23
- Asset Type
Raw video
- Media Type
Video
- Subjects
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- Warfare, Conventional
- Polaris (Missile)
- International relations
- Nuclear arms control
- Great Britain
- Warsaw Treaty Organization
- Deterrence (Strategy)
- France
- Soviet Union. Treaties, etc. United States, 1987 December 8
- United States
- Nuclear weapons
- Trident (Weapons systems)
- Nuclear warfare
- Soviet Union
- Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles
- Callaghan, James, 1912-2005
- Genres
- Documentary
- Topics
- Global Affairs
- History
- War and Conflict
- Science
- Contributors
- Mason, Ronald A. (Interviewee)
- Publication Information
- WGBH Educational Foundation
- Citation
- Chicago: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Zero Hour; Interview with Ronald Mason, 1987,” 11/11/1987, GBH Archives, accessed April 19, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_F559A17D6B0A46F58DC3841AF170F5EB.
- MLA: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Zero Hour; Interview with Ronald Mason, 1987.” 11/11/1987. GBH Archives. Web. April 19, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_F559A17D6B0A46F58DC3841AF170F5EB>.
- APA: War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Zero Hour; Interview with Ronald Mason, 1987. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_F559A17D6B0A46F58DC3841AF170F5EB