War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Herbert York, 1988

Item Information

Title:
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Herbert York, 1988
Description:
Herbert York was a nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, was the Director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1952-1958, and served as a member of the President's Science Advisory Committee from 1957-1968. From the end of 1958 to April 1961 he was Director of Defense Research and Engineering. Later he worked on various arms control issues. This lengthy interview begins with Dr. York's background and his impressions of working on the Manhattan Project. His reaction to Hiroshima was initially elation and he recalls his superiors' view that the atomic bomb would make war obsolete. Next, he covers world events and personal recollections from the post-war period, including his reactions to the H-bomb test. A turning point in his views came after Sputnik when President Eisenhower determined that preparedness efforts had to be accompanied by arms control talks. A second turning point, while at the Pentagon, was his gradual realization that technology would never be able to provide real solutions to the nation's defense needs. A number of prominent figures responded sharply when he made his views public. While not claiming the U.S. has been responsible for the arms race, he does say that the United States initiated most of the major developments, a dynamic partly due to the country's larger industrial base. He provides his opinions on the role of nuclear weapons, the desirability of moving away from a heavy reliance on them, and the nature of the military-industrial complex, characterized by groups that constantly emphasize the existence of threats requiring aggressive action. By the end of the 1960s, he came to believe the United States was headed in the wrong direction militarily and he spoke out against new technologies such as ABM and MIRVs. Among his current concerns are the deployment of shorter-range missiles in Europe, and the hair-trigger nature of nuclear deployments. Another topic of discussion is deterrence. In addition to all of these points, the interview features a series of almost philosophical exchanges about the nature of nuclear weapons, deterrence, arms control, test bans and the U.S.-Soviet conflict.
Interviewee:
York, Herbert F. (Herbert Frank)
Date:
March 12, 1988
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
Nuclear arms control
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969
Nuclear weapons
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear weapons--Testing
Deterrence (Strategy)
Hydrogen bomb
Physicists
Communism
Antimissile missiles
Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles
Military-industrial complex
Tactical nuclear weapons
Korean War, 1950-1953
Hiroshima-shi (Japan)--History--Bombardment, 1945
Lawrence Livermore Laboratory
Manhattan Project (Organization)
Carter, Jimmy, 1924-
Teller, Edward, 1908-2003
Reagan, Ronald
Gorbachev, Mikhail
Nitze, Paul H.
United States
Soviet Union
Single Integrated Operational Plan
Nuclear Disarmament
Extent:
01:51:28
Link to Item:
https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-dn3zs2kg8q
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
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Publisher:
WGBH Educational Foundation