War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Joseph Alsop, 1986

Item Information

Title:
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Joseph Alsop, 1986
Description:
Joseph Alsop was an American syndicated political columnist. In his interview, he begins by describing the political situation in Europe and the Soviet Union after World War II, as well as the public mood in the U.S., from the Berlin airlift through the Korean War. Among other anecdotes, he tells of the time he and his brother, Stewart (also a columnist), discovered classified information that the Soviets were testing ICBMs, and describes how they handled the balance between protecting national security and the public's right to know during a tense political period. He gives his opinions on the crafting of American defense policy in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He describes at some length his views on the process of preparing national security estimates, used to assess Soviet capabilities, and occasionally intentions. In his opinion, basing estimates strictly on capabilities is like "playing Russian Roulette." He discounts the likelihood of another world war unless the Soviets pick a leader "who goes mad." In the same vein, he labels Stalin, Hitler and Mao as "obviously crazy." While he calls Eisenhower an able man and a shrewd politician, he criticizes his management of the national defense while president. On the topic of nuclear weapons, he comments: "The question is not whether to use them, the question is how to avoid a situation in which the question might arise. And the way to do that is to look strong."
Author:
Alsop, Joseph, 1910-1989
Date:
March 12, 1986
Format:
Film/Video
Location:
WGBH
Collection (local):
American Archive of Public Broadcasting Collection
Series:
WGBH > War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
Subjects:
Czechoslovakia History Coup d'etat, 1948
Hungary--History--Revolution, 1956
U-2 (Reconnaissance aircraft)
Czechoslovakia
Polaris (Missile)
Edicia Sputnik
Rusk, Dean, 1909-1994
Murrow, Edward R.
Wiesner, Jerome B. (Jerome Bert), 1915-1994
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963
Acheson, Dean, 1893-1971
Kistiakowsky, George B. (George Bogdan), 1900-1982
Harriman, W. Averell (William Averell), 1891-1986
Dulles, Allen, 1893-1969
Mao, Zedong, 1893-1976
Bohlen, Charles E. (Charles Eustis), 1904-1974
Schuman, Robert, 1886-1963
McCarthy, Joseph, 1908-1957
Alsop, Stewart
Bissell, Richard M. (Richard Mervin), 1909-1994
Gates, Thomas S.
Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945
Wilson, Charles Erwin, 1890-1961
World War II
Soviet Union
United States
Berlin (Germany)--History--Blockade, 1948-1949
Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953
Nuclear weapons
Berlin (Germany)
International Relations
Korean War, 1950-1953
Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
Extent:
00:00:00
Link to Item:
https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-r785h7c55c
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Publisher:
WGBH Educational Foundation