Interview with David Jones, 1986 [1]

Item Information

Title:
Interview with David Jones, 1986 [1]
Description:
David Jones was a general in the U.S. Air Force, who served in the Strategic Air Command as an operations planner, then as General Curtis LeMay's aide. He went on to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1978-1982). In the interview he discusses SAC's nuclear strategy and its relationship with other branches of the military and government. He paints a picture of General LeMay, commander of SAC, as "great in war and great in peace" -- a "lousy politician but a superb military commander." (He denies that LeMay ever would have used nuclear weapons without the president's approval, as LeMay reportedly once claimed he would.) He explains the difference between nuclear strategies from the 1950s, when the United States had a far greater nuclear capability than the Soviet Union, and after the Soviets achieved nuclear parity. The significance of parity, in his opinion, was that a nuclear war could have no winners. He describes SAC's projections of the Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) buildup, and argues that they were correct on the number of missiles that would be built, just wrong on the timing. (He points out that there was controversy between SAC's estimates and the Air Force's.) He explains the tension between SAC and the CIA about these projections, and defends SAC against certain claims. He then describes various views in the 1950s about first- and second-strike options, and recalls SAC's reactions to Sputnik and its implications for future Soviet ICBM development. He also explains tensions with the Navy, which was developing its own nuclear targeting system and worried that creation of a joint planning and targeting staff would lead to SAC taking over the Polaris fleet.
Interviewee:
Jones, David C., 1921-
Date:
June 28, 1986
Format:
Film/Video
Location:
WGBH
Collection (local):
WGBH Open Vault
Series:
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
Subjects:
LeMay, Curtis E.
Polaris (Missile)
Reagan, Ronald
Nuclear weapons
Warsaw Treaty Organization
Edicia Sputnik
United States. Air Force. Strategic Air Command
Nuclear warfare
Intercontinental ballistic missiles
Massive retaliation (Nuclear strategy)
United States. Navy
United States. Air Force
Korean War, 1950-1953
Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
Soviet Union
United States. Central Intelligence Agency
Stoertz, Howard
Sprague, Robert C. (Robert Chapman), 1900-
Brown, Harold, 1927-
Carter, Jimmy, 1924-
Wiesner, Jerome B. (Jerome Bert), 1915-1994
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963
Places:
United States
Extent:
00:33:10:18
Link to Item:
https://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_4C9DD9F57A6041ACB0695FC332B548F8
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Publisher:
WGBH Educational Foundation
Identifier:
V_4C9DD9F57A6041ACB0695FC332B548F8