GBH Openvault

War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; One Step Forward; Interview with Royal Bertram Allison, 1986

Part of War and Peace in the Nuclear Age.

12/02/1986

Lt. General Royal Bertram Allison was the assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for strategic arms negotiations in the late 1960s, and the principal military member of the U.S. delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT I) with the Soviet Union. In the interview he discusses his perspective on SALT, what he hoped the United States would achieve from the talks and the results they ultimately produced. He discusses the effect of mutual superpower parity on strategy, and how the Joint Chiefs of Staff initially resisted the idea of strategic arms limitation but came to the conclusion that it was in the interests of national security. He describes his Soviet counterparts at SALT I, including then-General Nikolai Ogarkov, and the difficulties in beginning a dialogue with the Soviets on such a critical subject for the first time. Gen. Allison also discusses the Kissinger-Dobrynin back-channel negotiations, which he saw as dangerous and personally offensive, since they were kept secret from the rest of the American delegation and reflected a lack of confidence on the part of the Nixon administration. He describes Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson’s amendment to SALT I and how much control he had in deciding the delegation for SALT II, on which Gen. Allison did not serve because of the Senator’s influence. The interview concludes with brief treatments of a variety of topics, including the general’s views on the significance of the SALT treaty, and on the relationship between SALT and the Vietnam War.

Series

War and Peace in the Nuclear Age

Program

One Step Forward

Program Number

107

Title

Interview with Royal Bertram Allison, 1986

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

01:43:10

Asset Type

Raw video

Media Type

Video

Subjects

Perle, Richard Norman, 1941-

Kissinger, Henry, 1923-

Semyonov, Vladimir Semyonovich

Germany

Garthoff, Raymond L.

Ogarkov, (Marshal) Nikolai Vasilyevich

Fosdick, Dorothy

Grechko, A. A. (Andrei Antonovich), 1903-1976

Smith, Gerard C.

Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

International relations

United States. Joint Chiefs of Staff

Moorer, Thomas H., 1912-2004

Mutual assured destruction

Dobrynin, Anatoly, 1919-2010

Nitze, Paul H.

Rowny, Edward L., 1917-

MX (Weapons system)

Soviet Union. Treaties, etc. United States, 1972 May 26 (ABM)

Nuclear arms control

Jackson, Henry M. (Henry Martin), 1912-1983

Soviet Union

United States

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks II

Minuteman (Missile)

Submarine-launched ballistic missiles

Trident (Weapons systems)

Antimissile missiles

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks

Vietnam War, 1961-1975

Johnson, U. Alexis (Ural Alexis), 1908-1997

Deterrence (Strategy)

Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles

German rearmament

Locations

Washington, DC

Genres

Documentary

Topics

Science

History

Global Affairs

War and Conflict

Contributors

Allison, Royal Bertram (Interviewee)

Publication Information

WGBH Educational Foundation

Citation

Chicago: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; One Step Forward; Interview with Royal Bertram Allison, 1986,” 12/02/1986, GBH Archives, accessed November 21, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_6A78D59412874E2F8C840E75BD916CD2.

MLA: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; One Step Forward; Interview with Royal Bertram Allison, 1986.” 12/02/1986. GBH Archives. Web. November 21, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_6A78D59412874E2F8C840E75BD916CD2>.

APA: War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; One Step Forward; Interview with Royal Bertram Allison, 1986. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_6A78D59412874E2F8C840E75BD916CD2