GBH Openvault

War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Zero Hour; Interview with Anthony Farrar-Hockley, 1987

Part of War and Peace in the Nuclear Age.

11/26/1987

Anthony Farrar-Hockley was NATO's Commander in Chief Allied Forces Northern Europe. In the interview he explains NATO strategy involving nuclear weapons and studies from the 1960s and 1970s of how a Warsaw Pact attack might be carried out. One scenario he describes posits a quick enemy breakthrough with superior conventional (including chemical) weapons followed by a discussion within NATO over whether to respond with nuclear arms, beginning with tactical artillery shells but potentially escalating to the strategic level. The interview also relates NATO thinking about likely Soviet retaliation in that event. Farrar-Hockley also describes the changes in military technologies and strategies that occurred over time, especially in response to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). He argues against a "No-First-Use" policy because of Soviet conventional superiority. He also explains the challenges in simulating nuclear warfare for training purposes, as well as the difficulties in communications when the military is dealing with a "possible nuclear scenario."

Series

War and Peace in the Nuclear Age

Program

Zero Hour

Program Number

110

Title

Interview with Anthony Farrar-Hockley, 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

00:40:57

Asset Type

Raw video

Media Type

Video

Subjects

Soviet Union. Treaties, etc. United States, 1987 December 8

Nuclear weapons

Warsaw Treaty Organization

Tactical nuclear weapons

Chemical weapons

Supreme Allied Commander Europe

Pershing (Missile)

Warfare, Conventional

Nuclear arms control

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Soviet Union

Military weapons

Flexible response (Nuclear strategy)

Nuclear warfare

Genres

Documentary

Topics

Global Affairs

History

War and Conflict

Science

Contributors

Farrar-Hockley, Anthony, 1924-2006 (Interviewee)

Publication Information

WGBH Educational Foundation

Citation

Chicago: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Zero Hour; Interview with Anthony Farrar-Hockley, 1987,” 11/26/1987, GBH Archives, accessed April 19, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_0A96C947AD444493B02CF4CB4D5E70D3.

MLA: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Zero Hour; Interview with Anthony Farrar-Hockley, 1987.” 11/26/1987. GBH Archives. Web. April 19, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_0A96C947AD444493B02CF4CB4D5E70D3>.

APA: War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Zero Hour; Interview with Anthony Farrar-Hockley, 1987. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_0A96C947AD444493B02CF4CB4D5E70D3