War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with John Toomay, 1987

Item Information

Title:
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with John Toomay, 1987
Description:
Major General John Toomay was a career Air force officer involved with space systems and nuclear planning. He served on and off from World War II to 1979. In the interview he discusses vulnerability issues affecting U.S. ICBM forces in the 1960s. The Strat-X study and the concept of hard point defense, among others, are also discussed, as are targeting policies from the same time period. Gen. Toomay notes that accuracy was a major goal for some, but it was opposed by Robert McNamara and Congress, among others. Much of the interview is then taken up with questions about basing modes. Options he and his colleagues investigated included the pool, vertical silo, and racetrack systems. He discusses the trade-offs between hardening and mobility, observing that the latter creates added burdens when very large missiles and their associated hardware come into play. He explains why he preferred the vertical silo but the Carter administration ultimately chose the racetrack mode. He also discusses some of the issues affecting the idea of basing missiles in Utah, then goes on to talk about the aims of the MX, and comments that he believes in the concept of limited nuclear war, at least to the extent that it offers options other than surrendering or destroying the USSR. He touches on ICBM modernization and other topics such as his opposition to the Rail Garrison system. He then closes with a discussion of lessons from the period and assessments of different systems.
Author:
Toomay, J. C. (John C.), 1922-
Date:
December 9, 1987
Format:
Film/Video
Location:
WGBH
Collection (local):
American Archive of Public Broadcasting Collection
Series:
WGBH > War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
Subjects:
Deterrence (Strategy)
Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles
Physicists
Midgetman Missile
United States
United States. Air Force. Ballistic Missile Office
Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994
Brown, Harold, 1927-
McNamara, Robert S., 1916-2009
Smith, Larry
Shultz, George Pratt, 1920-
Allen, Lew, 1925-2010
Drell, Sidney D. (Sidney David), 1926-
Garwin, Richard L.
Burke, Kelly H., 1929-
Carter, Jimmy, 1924-
Reagan, Ronald
Perry, William James, 1927-
Zieberg, Seymour
United States. Air Force
United States. Army
United States. Dept. of Defense
United States. Congress
Mormon Church
United States. President's Commission on Strategic Forces
Schlesinger, James R.
Targeting (Nuclear strategy)
MX (Weapons system)
Minuteman (Missile)
Intercontinental ballistic missiles
Nuclear weapons
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks II
Soviet Union
Extent:
00:00:00
Link to Item:
https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-7659c6s42t
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Publisher:
WGBH Educational Foundation