War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Carl Kaysen, 1986 [2]
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- Raw Footage
- Interview with Carl Kaysen, 1986 [2]
- Contributing Organization
- WGBH (Boston, Massachusetts)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/15-057cr5n93d
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- Description
- Episode Description
- Carl Kaysen was the Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs for President Kennedy. In this interview he discusses the overall nuclear strategy of the Kennedy Administration, as well as the specific views of various members of that administration including Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy, and himself. He discusses the ideas of deterrence, mutual assured destruction, damage limitation, and targeting issues. He also describes his proposal for the small first strike he worked on with Henry Rowen in response to the 1961 Berlin Crisis. He answers criticism of the preemptive plan by explaining that they never encouraged that it be put in place, but thought it would be a good idea to see what such a plan would look like. He also explains his civil defense study, ordered by President Kennedy. The study mainly focused on the idea of fallout shelters; however, the administration's push for a new civil defense program fell out of favor when Kennedy realized the overreaction of the American people. Dr. Kaysen ends by describing the "new frontier" atmosphere of working with the Kennedy administration, full of bright people and facing serious new issues.
- Date
- 1986-03-20
- Date
- 1986-03-20
- Asset type
- Raw Footage
- Subjects
- Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963; Kennedy, Robert F., 1925-1968; United States. Congress; McNamara, Robert S., 1916-2009; Wiesner, Jerome B. (Jerome Bert), 1915-1994; Enthoven, Alain C., 1930-; Brown, Harold, 1927-; Sorensen, Theodore C.; Bell, David E., 1919-; Hitch, Charles Johnston; Rowen, Henry S.; Raskin, Marcus G.; Teller, Edward, 1908-2003; Yarmolinsky, Adam; Staats, Elmer B., 1914-2011; Thomas, Albert, 1898-1966 ---; Gates, Thomas S.; Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969; Schelling, Thomas C., 1921-; McNaughton, John T. (John Theodore), 1921-; Wigner, Eugene Paul, 1902-1995; Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971; National Security Council (U.S.); United States. Air Force; United States. Joint Chiefs of Staff; United States. Dept. of Defense; Single Integrated Operational Plan; Berlin (Germany); Germany; Soviet Union; United States; Civil Defense; Fallout shelters; Nuclear arms control; nuclear warfare; nuclear weapons; World War II; Bundy, McGeorge
- Rights
- Rights Note:,Rights:,Rights Credit:WGBH Educational Foundation,Rights Type:All,Rights Coverage:,Rights Holder:WGBH Educational Foundation
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Duration
- 00:00:00
- Credits
-
-
Publisher: WGBH Educational Foundation
Writer: Kaysen, Carl
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
WGBH
Identifier: 3f356cc3261d3548fc1d401c177da1b87b88668f (ArtesiaDAM UOI_ID)
Format: video/quicktime
Color: Color
Duration: 00:00:00
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- Citations
- Chicago: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Carl Kaysen, 1986 [2],” 1986-03-20, WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed January 15, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-057cr5n93d.
- MLA: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Carl Kaysen, 1986 [2].” 1986-03-20. WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. January 15, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-057cr5n93d>.
- APA: War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Carl Kaysen, 1986 [2]. Boston, MA: WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-057cr5n93d