GBH Openvault
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; One Step Forward; Interview with Roland Timerbaev, 1986 [1]
Part of War and Peace in the Nuclear Age.
11/26/1986
Roland Timerbaev, a world expert in the area of nuclear non-proliferation, served on the Soviet delegation of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) and was deputy director of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1964 to 1985. In the interview Timerbaev conducted for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age: One Step Forward, he explains that the Soviet goals for SALT I were to achieve a quick, realistic agreement, then to continue, step by step, through a series of increasingly radical solutions. He concludes that in the time since SALT I, the Soviets have revised their thinking to accelerate the process toward disarmament. He identifies factors, such as the Vietnam War and the increasing Soviet offensive capability, that led to the initiation of SALT I. He recounts some of the challenges that arose at the talks, such as the difficulty of arriving at shared definitions, ongoing Soviet concerns about the unilateral U.S. advantages of European forward-based missiles, and resentment toward U.S. Congressional efforts to use arms control and trade to leverage changes in Soviet domestic policy. The Soviet position, Timerbaev continues, rejects the doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction and holds nuclear disarmament as its overarching goal. Although limited in its ability to bring about actual arms reduction, SALT I earned Timerbaevs praise as the most important agreement ever achieved in the field of arms limitation because of its historic significance as the first such agreement between the superpowers.
License Clip
- Series
- War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
- Program
- One Step Forward
- Program Number
107
- Title
Interview with Roland Timerbaev, 1986 [1]
- 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
Soviet and American nuclear forces reach rough nuclear parity in the 1970’s. Each side, pursuing its own interest, negotiates the first successful arms control agreement, SALT I.
In May 1972 President Nixon found himself in Moscow delivering a message of peace and friendship. Nixon announced the first major superpower arms control agreements, SALT I and the Anti-Ballsitic Missile (ABM) treaty. Nixon described his feeling about negotiating with the Soviets. “I didn’t trust the Russians. But I recognized that ... there was no alternative but to have some relationship of ‘live and let live’ between the two superpowers.” Two years after the historic meeting in Moscow, Nixon was forced to resign due to Watergate. ABM silos in the United States were shut down but the production of ballistic missiles armed with multiple nuclear warheads (MIRV’s) contributed to a massive increase in weapons in both the United States and the Soviet Union.
- Duration
00:54:09
- Asset Type
Raw video
- Media Type
Video
- Subjects
- United States. Congress
- Soviet Union. Treaties, etc. United States, 1972 May 26 (ABM)
- Intercontinental ballistic missiles
- Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
- Antimissile missiles
- Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994
- Middle East
- Nuclear weapons -- Testing
- Jackson, Henry M. (Henry Martin), 1912-1983
- Nuclear arms control
- Vietnam War, 1961-1975
- Kissinger, Henry, 1923-
- Nuclear disarmament
- Soviet Union
- Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles
- Nuclear weapons
- United States
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- China
- McNamara, Robert S., 1916-2009
- Mutual assured destruction
- Locations
- New York, NY
- Genres
- Documentary
- Topics
- History
- Science
- Global Affairs
- War and Conflict
- Contributors
- Timerbaev, R. M. (Roland Makhmutovich) (Interviewee)
- Publication Information
- WGBH Educational Foundation
- Citation
- Chicago: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; One Step Forward; Interview with Roland Timerbaev, 1986 [1],” 11/26/1986, GBH Archives, accessed April 18, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_26815B9873DD47CAB192FE09F6124847.
- MLA: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; One Step Forward; Interview with Roland Timerbaev, 1986 [1].” 11/26/1986. GBH Archives. Web. April 18, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_26815B9873DD47CAB192FE09F6124847>.
- APA: War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; One Step Forward; Interview with Roland Timerbaev, 1986 [1]. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_26815B9873DD47CAB192FE09F6124847