War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Carl Kaysen, 1986 [1]
Description:
Carl Kaysen was the Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs for President Kennedy. In the interview he discusses the creation of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963. He explains the influence that the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 had on President Kennedy and on the state of U.S.-Soviet relations. He describes the exciting process of helping Ted Sorensen write the American University speech given by Kennedy on the possibility of peaceful relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. He goes on to describe the creation and some of the inner workings of the U.S. delegation to Moscow led by Averell Harriman that negotiated the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. He paints a vivid picture of Kennedy's and Khrushchev's separate reactions to the success and of the dinner Khrushchev later gave at the Kremlin to celebrate the treaty, and notes that the treaty was a high point for both Khrushchev and Kennedy's political careers. In Kaysen's view, the missile crisis helped lead to the treaty. He closes by describing what he believes are the "right" and "wrong" lessons of the missile crisis.
![War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Carl Kaysen, 1986 [1]](https://bpldcassets.blob.core.windows.net/derivatives/metadata/commonwealth-oai:br86fm064/image_thumbnail_300.jpg)
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