War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Arthur Schlesinger, 1986

Item Information

Title:
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Arthur Schlesinger, 1986
Description:
Arthur Schlesinger was a prominent historian and a close adviser to President John F. Kennedy and later Robert F. Kennedy. Schlesinger discusses the Cuban missile crisis at length in this interview. He provides some context by addressing President Kennedy's absorption with Cuba starting with the Bay of Pigs, and he describes the covert operations plan known as Operation Mongoose. Kennedy's main concern during the crisis was not that the Soviets might launch a nuclear war, since they were at a significant military and nuclear disadvantage, but that something might go wrong, precipitating uncontrollable consequences. During the interview, he assesses Robert Kennedy's role at high-level discussions as well as his views, and he touches on other subjects such as President Kennedy's American University speech [of June 10, 1963], and the ill effects of the myth of the missile gap. Returning to the crisis, he describes the president's reactions the day after its resolution and draws the principal lesson that presenting a tough veneer to the enemy was not enough, it required a mix of power and diplomatic resourcefulness. "[A]rms and diplomacy must go hand in hand."
Interviewee:
Schlesinger, Arthur M. (Arthur Meier), 1917-2007
Date:
March 7, 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
Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
Burke, Arleigh A., 1901-1996
Macmillan, Harold, 1894-1986
Cousins, Norman
Harlech, David Ormsby-Gore, baron, 1918-
Bundy, McGeorge
Dulles, John Foster, 1888-1959
Pen'kovskii, Oleg Vladimirovich, 1919-1963
Betancourt, Romulo, 1908-1981
United States. Joint Chiefs of Staff
United States. Central Intelligence Agency
United States. Navy
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
United States. Dept. of Defense
United Nations
United States
Soviet Union
Cuba
Venezuela
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963)
Operation Mongoose
Kaysen, Carl
Cuba--History--Invasion, 1961
LeMay, Curtis E.
Nuclear weapons
Nuclear arms control
International Relations
Communism
Grenada
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963
Kennedy, Robert F., 1925-1968
Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971
Castro, Fidel, 1926-
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969
Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973
Dillon, C. Douglas (Clarence Douglas), 1909-2003
Reagan, Ronald
Taylor, Maxwell D. (Maxwell Davenport), 1901-1987
Acheson, Dean, 1893-1971
McNamara, Robert S., 1916-2009
Harriman, W. Averell (William Averell), 1891-1986
Ball, George
Sorensen, Theodore C.
Alsop, Stewart
Dobrynin, Anatoly, 1919-2010
Anderson, George Whelan, 1906-1992
Salinger, Pierre
Extent:
00:49:06
Link to Item:
https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-nk3610w480
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
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Publisher:
WGBH Educational Foundation