War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; At The Brink; Interview with John Scali, 1986

Part of War and Peace in the Nuclear Age.

02/21/1986

John Scali was a reporter for ABC during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis and Ambassador to the United Nations from 1973-1975. In the interview he gives a detailed account of his role in the crisis. He describes being contacted by Alexander Fomin (his real name was Aleksandr Feklisov) from the Soviet embassy, who told him that the Soviet Union might be willing to pull its missiles out of Cuba under United Nations inspection, if the U.S. would publicly promise not to invade the island. Mr. Scali reported this to Dean Rusk and Roger Hilsman, who took the information to President Kennedy. Mr. Scali returned to tell Fomin that the Americans were agreeable; however, before a deal could be finalized, reports came out that Khrushchev was pursuing a completely different agreement. After considerable deliberation, Kennedy decided to ignore all other reports and trust that the information from Fomin and Scali was accurate. The President made a speech to that effect, which contributed to the resolution of the crisis. Mr. Scali also explains that even as a reporter he understood that he could not disclose his role as it might humiliate the Soviet Union. Kennedy repeatedly asked him to delay publicizing his account, until eventually Hilsman wrote a book, scooping Scalis story.

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Series

War and Peace in the Nuclear Age

Program

At The Brink

Program Number

105

Title

Interview with John Scali, 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

In October 1962, the Soviet Union and the United States are at the brink of nuclear war, the 13 most harrowing days in the nuclear age.

“I remember leaving the White House at the end of that Saturday and thinking that might well be the last sunset I ever saw,” recalls former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara of Black Saturday, the day the Cuban missile crisis pushed the world to the brink of nuclear war. Aleksandr Alexseev, Soviet ambassador to Cuba at the time, recalled, “We and the Cubans decided that, in order to avoid a United States invasion, we should supply Cuba with missiles.” The US effort to overthrow Fidel Castro at the Bay of Pigs was an expression of President Kennedy’s disbelief about the missiles in Cuba while it surprised Soviet leader Khrushchev according to his speechwriter,Feodor Burlatsky. Major General William Fairborne, speaks about how “We loaded whole blood and a hundred coffins onto the carrier Iwo Jima.” Looking back on those 13 days, former Secretary of State Dean Rusk reflects, “...we’ve got to find some way to inhabit this speck of dust in the universe at the same time.”

Duration

00:51:34

Asset Type

Raw video

Media Type

Video

Subjects

Cuba

Castro, Fidel, 1926-

United Nations

Feklisov, Aleksandr, 1914-2007

Soviet Union

Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971

Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962

Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963

Hilsman, Roger

United States

United States. Dept. of State

McNamara, Robert S., 1916-2009

Kennedy, Robert F., 1925-1968

Lippmann, Walter, 1889-1974

Rusk, Dean, 1909-1994

Salinger, Pierre

Journalists

Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973

International relations

Dobrynin, Anatoly, 1919-2010

Locations

Genres

Topics

Contributors

Scali, John (Interviewee)

Publication Information

WGBH Educational Foundation

Citation

Chicago: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; At The Brink; Interview with John Scali, 1986,” 02/21/1986, GBH Archives, accessed December 22, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_9F236717EB2649008E00E863CAAF296A.

MLA: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; At The Brink; Interview with John Scali, 1986.” 02/21/1986. GBH Archives. Web. December 22, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_9F236717EB2649008E00E863CAAF296A>.

APA: War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; At The Brink; Interview with John Scali, 1986. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_9F236717EB2649008E00E863CAAF296A

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War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; At The Brink; Interview with John Scali, 1986