War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with William Kaufmann, 1986

Item Information

Title:
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with William Kaufmann, 1986
Description:
William Kaufmann was a longtime RAND defense analyst who originated the counterforce-no cities doctrine and served as an advisor to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. He describes the U.S. policy for defending Europe, known as massive retaliation, at the start of the Kennedy administration, then defines several of the problems inherent in that strategy, and details his role in moving away from it. He acknowledges that at first he had little faith that Western conventional forces could handle the task alone, and that there was a basic lack of intelligence about the capabilities of both sides, at least in the early 1960s. He describes contingencies for dealing with the Berlin crisis of 1961, viewing it as potentially a more dangerous confrontation than the Cuban Missile Crisis. He recounts some of the nuclear options that were under consideration at the time. The European allies accepted the conventional options but refused to sign any agreement on the nuclear ones in advance, a fact Mr. Kaufmann finds ironic given the allegations of American unreliability as a contributor to European defense. He recalls a reassuring war game after the fact at Camp David involving allied participation in which no scenario led to the introduction of nuclear weapons. His lesson from the crisis was that there is a need to maintain adequate conventional strength. He then describes his initial meeting with Robert McNamara in February 1961, where he discussed the concept of counterforce targeting, and goes into considerable detail about its underlying principles and rationales. He discusses the Ann Arbor speech, which Mr. Kaufmann says raised problems with the allies, and he describes some of the discussions that were held with them on the subject. In addition, he describes the Air Force's response, which was to demand more weapons in order to fulfill the new targeting requirements. He notes that attacking cities has remained an option for the president but the option not to do so was what was put into effect in 1962. He then goes into McNamara's evolution in thinking about defense and deterrence over the rest of his tenure at the Pentagon. This is followed by a lengthy discussion of Mutual Assured Destruction.
Author:
Kaufmann, William W.
Date:
March 5, 1986
Format:
Film/Video
Location:
WGBH
Collection (local):
American Archive of Public Broadcasting Collection
Series:
WGBH > War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
Subjects:
Global Affairs
Military Forces and Armaments
Hilsman, Roger
Adenauer, Konrad, 1876-1967
Rand Corporation
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
France
United States. Dept. of Defense
McNamara, Robert S., 1916-2009
Warsaw Treaty Organization
Nuclear weapons
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear arms control
Warfare, Conventional
Deterrence (Strategy)
Antimissile missiles
Civil Defense
United States
Soviet Union
China
Berlin (Germany)
Great Britain
Norstad, Lauris, 1907-1988
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963
Kaysen, Carl
Wohlstetter, Albert J.
Rowen, Henry S.
Acheson, Dean, 1893-1971
United States. Air Force
Extent:
02:15:21
Link to Item:
https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-m61bk16x0j
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Publisher:
WGBH Educational Foundation