GBH Openvault
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Bigger Bang for the Buck, A; Interview with Ray Cline, 1986 [2]
Part of War and Peace in the Nuclear Age.
02/20/1986
Ray Cline was appointed the CIA's deputy director for intelligence in 1962. Cline's interview conducted for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age: "At the Brink" explores how the ebullient mood of the new White House administration following the election of John F. Kennedy was quickly embittered by the Bay of Pigs defeat, the preoccupation with Cuba, and debate over how to organize anti-Castro opposition. He describes thenU.S. attorney general Robert Kennedy's concern for his brother's "redemption" and place in history following the Bay of Pigs, the failed U.S.-government-funded attempt to overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Cline also discusses CIA director John McCone's unheeded warnings of offensive missiles in Cuba. McCone, who had become a close personal friend of Robert Kennedy, was known as a hawkish Republican, and Cline discusses how most seasoned officials all but ignored the now-famous "McCone Honeymoon Cables" on the grounds that the Soviet Union had never before placed offensive surface-to-surface weapons outside its national borders. Cline provides a CIA insider's perspective, offering insight on everything from the extensive covert operations against Fidel Castro, to the initial photographic evidence revealing Soviet missiles in Cuba, to the various response options weighed. Finally, Cline expands on his personal judgment that the resolution of the missile crisis was an "unexploited victory."
License Clip
- Series
- War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
- Program
- Bigger Bang for the Buck, A
- Program Number
103
- Title
Interview with Ray Cline, 1986 [2]
- 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
For the destructive power they deliver, nuclear weapons are cheap and efficient. In the 1950’s the United States begins to rely on nuclear, rather than conventional, weapons for its defense.
As nuclear policy evolved during the Eisenhower Administration, three factors combined to produce a new American reliance on nuclear weapons: pressure to control the federal budget (the “bigger bang” argument); competition as each branch of the American military adapted nuclear weapons to its mission; and Soviet bluffs that fueled American fears about a “bomber gap” and later a “missile gap.” On October 4, 1957, Sputnik, the Soviet satellite that was the first to orbit Earth, shocked Americans and delighted the Soviets. A month later, the Soviets launched Sputnik 2 with a dog on board. Both the Soviets and the Americans knew that a booster capable of carrying a dog into space could also deliver a nuclear warhead across a continent in 30 minutes.
- Duration
00:58:09
- Asset Type
Raw video
- Media Type
Video
- Subjects
- Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
- Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971
- United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Bundy, McGeorge
- Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963
- United States
- Castro, Fidel, 1926-
- Moyers, Bill D.
- World War II
- Cuba -- History -- Invasion, 1961
- McCone, John A. (John Alex), 1902-1991
- United States. Central Intelligence Agency
- Nuclear warfare
- Nuclear arms control
- McCone, John A. (John Alex), 1902-1991
- Soviet Union
- Cuba
- Nuclear weapons
- Kennedy, Robert F., 1925-1968
- Locations
- Washington, DC
- Genres
- Documentary
- Topics
- War and Conflict
- Science
- Global Affairs
- History
- Contributors
- Cline, Ray S. (Interviewee)
- Publication Information
- WGBH Educational Foundation
- Citation
- Chicago: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Bigger Bang for the Buck, A; Interview with Ray Cline, 1986 [2],” 02/20/1986, GBH Archives, accessed April 18, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_AC083360A7F24B82873F6C1861204C0C.
- MLA: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Bigger Bang for the Buck, A; Interview with Ray Cline, 1986 [2].” 02/20/1986. GBH Archives. Web. April 18, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_AC083360A7F24B82873F6C1861204C0C>.
- APA: War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Bigger Bang for the Buck, A; Interview with Ray Cline, 1986 [2]. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_AC083360A7F24B82873F6C1861204C0C