GBH Openvault
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Europe Goes Nuclear; Interview with Paul Nitze, 1986 [3]
Part of War and Peace in the Nuclear Age.
03/10/1986
For nearly half a century, Paul Nitze was one of the chief architects of U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union. Nitze served as assistant defense secretary from 1961-1963. In the interview he discusses the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. He describes his support of the idea of a quarantine, followed by an airstrike if necessary, noting that he was ready to do whatever necessary to achieve the objective of getting the Soviet missile out of Cuba. During EXCOMM meetings, he argued against Secretary McNamara, who was saying that the missiles didnt change the strategic balance. Nitze notes that the Cuban Missile Crisis war related to the American-Soviet tension over the concurrent situation in Berlin. He never thought there was much of a possibly of nuclear war during the Missile Crisis because of the American conventional superiority, from which re draws the lesson that a country is secure with both a conventional and nuclear superiority, and shouldnt rely solely on its nuclear forces.
License Clip
- Series
- War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
- Program
- Europe Goes Nuclear
- Program Number
104
- Title
Interview with Paul Nitze, 1986 [3]
- 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
France and England rush to acquire their own nuclear weapons, NATO worries about the threat from the East, and Europe becomes the most nuclear-saturated place on Earth.
British and American scientists worked side by side to build the first nuclear bombs. “There was a strong desire on the British side for that collaboration to continue into peacetime. There was no such desire on the part of the United States,” recalls British diplomat Roger Makins, Lord Sherfield. Britain decided to proceed on its own and in 1952 joined the US and the Soviets in what pundits would call “the nuclear club.” General Charles De Gaulle, president of France, wanted to join the club, too, and not rely on the US for nuclear protection. Prestige was also an issue. In 1960, France exploded its first atomic weapon. Since World War II the Soviet Union had had a superiority in conventional forces in Europe. NATO countered by deploying thousands of nuclear weapons. “They were accepted as being perfectly reasonable weapons to use in a tactical battle in continental Europe,” said Sir Richard Powell of the British Defense Ministry.
- Duration
00:20:34
- Asset Type
Raw video
- Media Type
Video
- Subjects
- Bundy, McGeorge
- Soviet Union
- Acheson, Dean, 1893-1971
- Rusk, Dean, 1909-1994
- Anderson, George Whelan, 1906-1992
- Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963
- Gilpatric, Roswell L. (Roswell Leavitt), 1906-1996
- McNamara, Robert S., 1916-2009
- United States. Navy
- McCone, John A. (John Alex), 1902-1991
- Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
- United States
- Hilsman, Roger
- Nuclear warfare
- Cuba
- Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971
- Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969
- Nuclear weapons
- Warfare, Conventional
- Sorensen, Theodore C.
- Locations
- Washington, DC
- Genres
- Documentary
- Topics
- War and Conflict
- Science
- Global Affairs
- History
- Contributors
- Nitze, Paul H. (Interviewee)
- Publication Information
- WGBH Educational Foundation
- Citation
- Chicago: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Europe Goes Nuclear; Interview with Paul Nitze, 1986 [3],” 03/10/1986, GBH Archives, accessed April 19, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_ADE712262B8348B597CCD2FF8A953480.
- MLA: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Europe Goes Nuclear; Interview with Paul Nitze, 1986 [3].” 03/10/1986. GBH Archives. Web. April 19, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_ADE712262B8348B597CCD2FF8A953480>.
- APA: War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Europe Goes Nuclear; Interview with Paul Nitze, 1986 [3]. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_ADE712262B8348B597CCD2FF8A953480