Interview with McGeorge Bundy, 1986 [2]

Item Information

Title:
Interview with McGeorge Bundy, 1986 [2]
Description:
McGeorge Bundy was special assistant for national security affairs to U.S. presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 to 1966. In the interview he discusses the beginning of the Kennedy administration, as well as the eventual evolution of U.S. strategic planning. The first half of the interview focuses on the Berlin Crisis, with Mr. Bundy focusing on the actions and reactions of the United States and Soviet Union during that period. He discusses both Kennedy and Khrushchev’s motivations, as well as the role nuclear weapons played in the crisis. The second half of the interview focuses on the build up of the U.S. nuclear arsenal under Kennedy, and the strategic planning under McNamara. He compares Kennedy’s buildup to Eisenhower’s projections. He also describes McNamara’s shift from massive retaliation, to counterforce, to mutual assured destruction.
Interviewee:
Bundy, McGeorge
Date:
March 20, 1986
Format:
Film/Video
Location:
WGBH
Collection (local):
WGBH Open Vault
Series:
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
Subjects:
Single Integrated Operational Plan
Minuteman (Missile)
Intercontinental ballistic missiles
Ball, Desmond
Great Britain
Berlin (Germany)
Berlin (Germany)--History--Crisis, 1961
International relations
Massive retaliation (Nuclear strategy)
United States. Air Force. Strategic Air Command
Soviet Union
United States. Dept. of Defense
Mutual assured destruction
Nuclear weapons--Testing
Kaysen, Carl
LeMay, Curtis E.
Nuclear weapons
Counterforce (Nuclear strategy)
Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971
Wiesner, Jerome B. (Jerome Bert), 1915-1994
Acheson, Dean, 1893-1971
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963
McNamara, Robert S., 1916-2009
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969
Places:
New York > New York
Germany
France
Extent:
01:02:13:10
Link to Item:
https://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_FADFAD8951D148A498529462A906A366
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Publisher:
WGBH Educational Foundation
Identifier:
V_FADFAD8951D148A498529462A906A366