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WWW.MY-SUBS.CO
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The arms control treaty,
which has helped keep Europeans safe,
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could soon end.
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{n8}If Russia does not return to full
and verifiable compliance with the treaty
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{n8}within this six-month period
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{n8}by verifiably destroying
its INF-violating missiles,
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their launchers and associated equipment,
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the treaty will terminate.
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
announcing that the US is leaving
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{n8}the intermediate-range
nuclear forces treaty with Russia.
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{n8}We saw
in the Trump Administration,
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{n8}President Trump withdraw from one treaty,
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{n8}the Intermediate-Range
Nuclear Forces Treaty.
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There's only
one arms control treaty left
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{n8}between the United States and Russia,
the New START Treaty,
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{n8}and even that is due to expire
in a few years.
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Because US-Russian relations
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are at such a low point
because of Ukraine,
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they might not be able to restart
those negotiations, which could be tragic.
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{n8}Because if that treaty expires,
this would be the first time in 50 years
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{n8}where there's no limits
on the total number of nuclear weapons
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that the United States
and Russia can deploy.
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{n8}Tonight, the Kremlin now suspending all
notifications involving nuclear weapons,
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{n8}communications required
under the New START Treaty.
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{n8}I feel we're already in the first inning
of a new nuclear arms race.
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We are in a race
between cooperation and catastrophe.
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It is not just the US, Russia.
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It's also all the countries in the world
that can make weapons
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that can eliminate God's creation.
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That's where we are on the human scale.
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Catastrophe is running
a lot faster than cooperation.
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One of the characteristics of the Cold War
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{n8}was that the Soviets were always
insecure about American power.
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{n8}They knew they were behind.
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{n8}They also knew,
because the US had a free press,
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{n8}how afraid Americans got
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{n8}whenever they showed
a little bit of might.
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And Khrushchev wanted
to weaponize American fears.
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He felt that nuclear weapons
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were such a threat
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that he could use them psychologically
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to contain American power.
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So he set about exaggerating.
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The Soviets began to pretend
that they had more missiles.
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We don't want war,
but we won't stop.
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Nothing stops us from defending
our sovereignty and our motherland.
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The problem
for the CIA is trying to figure out
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what's going on inside the Kremlin.
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What are the military capabilities
of the Soviet Union?
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How many missiles do they have?
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How many bombs do they have?
How big is their army?
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{n8}So the CIA,
through the brilliant Richard Bissell,
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{n8}spearheads the effort
to develop a spy plane.
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The first spy plane is called the U-2.
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The U-2 can fly at an altitude
of more than 70,000 feet,
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and it can take pictures
from that altitude
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that are good enough to let you know
what is happening at a certain airfield.
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When the U-2 came along,
it really did change the whole game.
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The Cold War cat-and-mouse game.
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For the first time,
the Americans could map
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what was happening in the Soviet Union,
could see this stuff in real detail.
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But these flights
were not every day.
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And they couldn't photograph
every part of the Soviet Union
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that might have a missile farm.
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In a time of nuclear weapons,
you don't want to underestimate your enemy
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because the costs of getting it wrong
are potentially catastrophic.
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And then the Soviets
surprised the United States
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by putting the first
artificial satellite into space.
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October 4, 1957.
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Sputnik, the first Earth satellite,
was launched.
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{n8}The Soviet Union gets to space first
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{n8}with this tiny beeping ball
called Sputnik.
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In the history of the Earth,
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no other event
had captured the imagination
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of so many people
as this first step into space.
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You could watch it
from your backyard with binoculars
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as it passes over your house.
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You could pick it up
on your household radio.
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{n8}And it becomes this sort of beeping
harbinger of doom for the United States
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{n8}that Russia got to space first,
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and then sort of more broadly,
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this fear that the US was falling behind
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in science and technology.
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Well, if they can put
that capsule into space,
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they can put a missile
with a nuclear warhead into space,
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and the game's over.
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The U-2 is followed by an even more
useful piece of spy technology,
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which is called the CORONA satellite.
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That's a small satellite placed in orbit,
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which can take continuous,
first, still pictures,
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and then video of what's going on
in the Soviet Union.
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The first satellites actually used film,
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and they would eject these pods of film
from the satellite with electronics,
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so you'd know where it was.
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Air Force planes
with big prongs at the front of the plane
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would snatch this canister
coming down to earth.
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The canisters would then
be sent to Kodak to be developed.
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The first photographic satellites
gave us a lot of information
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about what was going on
in the Soviet Union
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in terms of both bombers and missiles.
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As the CIA discovered,
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the Soviet Union did not
have thousands of missiles
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capable of striking the United States.
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It did not have hundreds of nukes
capable of striking the United States.
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It had four.
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Not 4,000.
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Turned out there was a missile gap,
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but it was around
a thousand to one in our favor.
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This thing that we had feared
through all of the 1950s
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{n8}as this existential threat
to the United States
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was really a paper tiger.
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The Russian army
had been enormously overestimated.
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The Russians were not
on a crash program to build missiles,
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which the people around me
all took for granted that they were,
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and were not superior,
were not trying to be superior,
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which meant that they were not trying
for a first-strike capability
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against the US,
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which in turn really meant they weren't
trying to dominate the world militarily.
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That discovery
should have led to a rethinking
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of our whole paradigm there
of our whole world perspective,
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as to who we were confronting,
and what their aims were,
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and how we dealt with them.
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But it didn't at all.
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The foreign policy of
the Soviet Union is, in a word, conquest.
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{n8}They envision the entire world Sovietized
and united communist-style.
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{n8}Why has such
a totally fraudulent belief
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been so persistent all this time?
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Because there's jobs.
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It's very profitable.
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All manner
of private-sector companies,
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{n8}defense contractors,
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{n8}communications contractors,
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{n8}becomes reliant on the government
and the defense spending.
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This is becoming
sort of a nuclear-headed hydra
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unlike anything that the US
has ever experienced before.
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The defense orientation
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also dramatically changed
American universities,
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particularly in science and technology.
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By some estimates,
75% of funding for the natural sciences
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was coming from defense institutes
in the 1950s.
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This was a society that had become
increasingly oriented around defense,
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and security, and nuclear weapons.
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Under Eisenhower,
the number of weapons
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and the diversity of types of weapons
starts to exponentially increase.
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{n8}The American scientists
within the nuclear infrastructure
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{n8}get extremely creative.
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So they end up
with this wide variety of bombs
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for all sorts
of different types of circumstances.
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The smallest bombs that the US ever made
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could fit into a reasonably large
duffel bag or backpack
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and be carried by a single person.
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The largest bombs
that get made in this period
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were the size
of a sort of school bus, essentially.
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It's a huge bomb.
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It doesn't really fit inside the bomber.
It has to sort of hang underneath it.
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And then you have everything in between.
Might be a bomb meant to be on a missile.
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It might be a bomb that's meant
to have ten of them on one missile.
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It might be a torpedo.
It might be a land mine,
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a regular bomb you drop out of a plane,
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a rocket meant to carry a nuclear bomb
to shoot down a bomber.
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Just a tremendous
variety of weapons in this time.
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They sort of have an unlimited budget
for this, and unlimited ideas.
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When Eisenhower
came into office,
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{n8}there was about a thousand
atomic warheads.
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{n8}When Eisenhower left office,
there was about 23,000 nuclear warheads.
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{n8}And most of them by now
were thermonuclear,
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which was a thousand times more powerful
than the Nagasaki bomb.
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This immense expansion
of destructive power
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took place with very little
attention of the public.
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By the time
that he left office in 1961,
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Eisenhower was concerned
at how these spending levels
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just seemed to keep going
up and up and up,
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even after he himself
had endorsed many of the policies
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that created that situation
in the first place.
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To Eisenhower, this was beginning
to pose a threat to American democracy.
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{n8}We have been compelled to create
a permanent armaments industry
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{n8}of vast proportions.
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In the councils of government,
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we must guard against
the acquisition of unwarranted influence,
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whether sought or unsought,
by the military-industrial complex.
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The potential for the disastrous rise
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of misplaced power
exists and will persist.
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Eisenhower becomes deeply afraid
by the end of his presidency.
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The Cold War is spinning out of control.
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So many congressmen are reliant
on the jobs in their districts
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that it's sort of in everyone's interest
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to keep building
towards this world-ending moment
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because it's good business.
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{n8}Both sides played it.
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{n8}Democrat, Republican,
they all played this game.
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{n8}Although we are today
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the strongest nation
in the world militarily,
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we must increase our strength.
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The fundamental problem of our time
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is the steady erosion of American power
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relative to that of the communists
in recent years.
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John Kennedy,
when he's running for president in 1960,
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talks about the missile gap,
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you know, and-and kind of suggesting
that somehow the Eisenhower administration
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had been soft.
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Had been caught with their pants down
against the Soviets.
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They all played it.
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I, John Fitzgerald Kennedy,
do solemnly swear...
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That you will faithfully
execute the office
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of President of the United States.
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...that I will faithfully execute the office
of President of the United States.
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Kennedy comes in.
Kennedy's a young president.
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Only when our arms
are sufficient beyond doubt
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can we be certain beyond doubt
that they will never be employed.
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Khrushchev thinks,
"Who is that little boy?"
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He's the age of his own son Leonid.
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And, of course, Khrushchev
had his own opposition already growing,
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the hardliners who were saying,
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"Well, the Americans
are treating you so horribly."
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00:15:41,273 --> 00:15:44,234
So he had a lot of people in his ear
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saying that he was just
being a total fool,
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and a punching bag
for the West, and so on.
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Then the famous visit
of Khrushchev to the United Nations
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when he was banging his fists
and screaming that, you know,
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America is an imperialist country
and racist country.
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00:16:02,878 --> 00:16:05,881
All the sparrows
on the rooftops are chirping about this
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that the most imperialist power
which supports colonial regimes
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is the United States of America.
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So the confrontation was increasing,
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and Kennedy had his own hawks
in the administration
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pushing him to step up and be against
this horrible Soviet despot.
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00:16:31,281 --> 00:16:34,159
And so a lot of it
just was getting out of control.
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And then they met in Vienna in 1961.
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I went to Vienna to meet the leader
of the Soviet Union, Mr. Khrushchev.
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For two days, we met in sober,
intensive conversation.
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But our most somber talks
were on the subject of Germany and Berlin.
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In 1961,
the confrontation between East and West
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becomes more and more intense in Berlin.
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YOU ARE ENTERING THE FRENCH SECTOR
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East Germany is in some ways
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the jewel in the crown
of the Soviet Empire.
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It's in the heart of Europe,
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and it's one of the most developed parts
of the entire Soviet Bloc.
238
00:17:36,430 --> 00:17:41,685
{n8}But East Germany is bleeding to death
because its people are just leaving.
239
00:17:41,769 --> 00:17:45,355
Doctors, engineers,
teachers, technicians.
240
00:17:45,439 --> 00:17:49,943
People with skills badly needed
in the communists' faltering economy.
241
00:17:50,027 --> 00:17:54,281
More than four million people
have fled from Soviet domination
242
00:17:54,364 --> 00:17:57,117
since the post-war
occupation zones were established.
243
00:17:58,535 --> 00:18:02,081
The part of Berlin where I grew up,
244
00:18:02,164 --> 00:18:07,336
was... would become, uh,
East Berlin, unfortunately.
245
00:18:08,128 --> 00:18:13,008
As a little child, the border between
East and West Berlin was open.
246
00:18:13,092 --> 00:18:18,972
So we could go to West Berlin
so often as we liked.
247
00:18:21,100 --> 00:18:26,730
In West Berlin, we were able to see
all movies which we want to see.
248
00:18:26,814 --> 00:18:33,028
We could read all books.
We could listen to every kind of music.
249
00:18:33,112 --> 00:18:37,908
And in East Berlin, the GDR,
a lot of such things was not allowed.
250
00:18:40,077 --> 00:18:42,121
And then our life changed.
251
00:18:44,957 --> 00:18:47,084
{n8}On the 13th of August, 1961,
252
00:18:47,167 --> 00:18:50,879
{n8}the East German communist authorities
throw up what we call the wall,
253
00:18:50,963 --> 00:18:53,465
which is initially just breeze-blocks
and barbwire.
254
00:18:56,385 --> 00:19:00,055
And they say
it's the anti-fascist protective wall,
255
00:19:00,556 --> 00:19:03,475
to protect us against the fascists
in West Berlin.
256
00:19:04,768 --> 00:19:08,689
Everybody knows it's to keep
their own people in, not us out.
257
00:19:14,153 --> 00:19:16,780
The wall goes up.
It's a terrible shock.
258
00:19:23,787 --> 00:19:29,793
You have to imagine New York or London
being divided down the middle.
259
00:19:29,877 --> 00:19:34,423
So, literally one side of West 42nd Street
is in East New York,
260
00:19:34,506 --> 00:19:38,051
and the other side of West 42nd Street
is in West New York.
261
00:19:38,135 --> 00:19:39,761
And there's a wall between them,
262
00:19:39,845 --> 00:19:43,682
and you get shot if you try to escape
from one side to the other.
263
00:19:58,447 --> 00:20:01,074
We came
not very close to the border,
264
00:20:01,158 --> 00:20:04,620
maybe 200 or 300 away,
265
00:20:05,204 --> 00:20:09,458
and the police catch us and sent us back.
266
00:20:09,541 --> 00:20:14,713
Told us it was not allowed
to go too close to the border.
267
00:20:15,464 --> 00:20:21,220
It was no longer allowed to move
through the city as we are used to.
268
00:20:23,263 --> 00:20:26,725
The political pressure
was higher and higher.
269
00:20:27,851 --> 00:20:30,896
You have a famous picture
of a frontier guard,
270
00:20:30,979 --> 00:20:34,066
an actual East German frontier guard,
looking around.
271
00:20:40,572 --> 00:20:43,450
And then taking a leap
and jumping over the barbwire.
272
00:20:47,663 --> 00:20:49,206
It gets more difficult,
273
00:20:49,289 --> 00:20:52,960
so you have people tunneling underneath
and trying to get out of the tunnels,
274
00:20:53,043 --> 00:20:56,338
trying to get down from the windows
of apartment blocks.
275
00:20:59,216 --> 00:21:02,386
While an East German guard
attempts to yank her back to prison,
276
00:21:02,469 --> 00:21:06,056
West Berliners pull her
to a fire net and freedom.
277
00:21:12,771 --> 00:21:16,608
The regime
would just destroy buildings
278
00:21:16,692 --> 00:21:18,485
that were near to the wall
279
00:21:18,568 --> 00:21:21,321
in order to create
this larger security zone.
280
00:21:24,116 --> 00:21:28,036
There's a famous case when a particularly
beautiful church was just detonated
281
00:21:28,120 --> 00:21:30,038
in order to make room for, you know,
282
00:21:30,122 --> 00:21:32,749
another area for guards
and guard towers and so forth.
283
00:21:37,671 --> 00:21:40,674
There would be additional walls built.
284
00:21:46,722 --> 00:21:48,724
Then there would be death strips put in.
285
00:21:49,725 --> 00:21:52,227
Self-triggering machine guns. Barbed wire.
286
00:21:52,311 --> 00:21:54,563
Something called Stalin's Lawn,
287
00:21:54,646 --> 00:21:57,357
which was like a bed
of iron spikes sitting up.
288
00:21:58,317 --> 00:22:01,945
We were prisoners in our own country.
289
00:22:09,369 --> 00:22:12,956
At the border
between East and West Berlin,
290
00:22:14,333 --> 00:22:19,838
Soviet tanks and American tanks
were confronting one another.
291
00:22:21,381 --> 00:22:25,260
They could watch on the other side,
the tank of the opponent.
292
00:22:26,511 --> 00:22:29,931
Therefore, just by accident,
something could happen
293
00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:33,393
almost all the time possible.
294
00:22:38,315 --> 00:22:42,194
Everything about the greatest
geopolitical conflict of the time
295
00:22:42,277 --> 00:22:47,199
is concentrated in one place
and in one symbol, that wall.
296
00:22:47,991 --> 00:22:50,911
{n8}And there were so many
Red Army troops in East Germany.
297
00:22:50,994 --> 00:22:53,914
{n8}So it was an absolutely
overwhelming military presence.
298
00:22:57,042 --> 00:23:01,004
The Soviets could have walked
into West Berlin at any time.
299
00:23:01,088 --> 00:23:04,174
What kept them from doing that
was an explicit threat
300
00:23:04,257 --> 00:23:06,885
that that would lead
to a nuclear response.
301
00:23:08,428 --> 00:23:12,474
{n8}We had thousands
of intermediate-range missiles and bombers
302
00:23:12,557 --> 00:23:13,767
{n8}within range of Russia.
303
00:23:14,851 --> 00:23:17,854
In 1961,
the Americans led this new generation
304
00:23:17,938 --> 00:23:20,273
of very advanced missiles in Turkey.
305
00:23:20,982 --> 00:23:23,360
The Jupiter,
an intermediate missile
306
00:23:23,443 --> 00:23:25,404
with a range of 1,500 miles,
307
00:23:25,487 --> 00:23:29,616
is being deployed by the Air Force
to bases in Italy and Turkey.
308
00:23:30,826 --> 00:23:34,621
The American missiles are right there
in Turkey, aiming at the Kremlin,
309
00:23:34,704 --> 00:23:38,166
and Khrushchev said,
"Oh, this is so close. How horrible."
310
00:23:38,250 --> 00:23:41,837
"We're surrounded by NATO bases.
We have to do something about it."
311
00:23:43,422 --> 00:23:48,093
The Soviets said,
"Look, we don't have any land allies
312
00:23:48,176 --> 00:23:49,761
close to the United States."
313
00:23:49,845 --> 00:23:52,848
"We can't quite do the same thing,
but we do have Cuba."
314
00:24:06,528 --> 00:24:09,531
{n8}From his small hole
in the wild Sierra Maestra mountains,
315
00:24:09,614 --> 00:24:13,201
{n8}Cuba's Fidel Castro emerged triumphant
after two years of guerrilla warfare
316
00:24:13,285 --> 00:24:16,496
{n8}ended with the flight
of dictator Fulgencio Batista
317
00:24:16,580 --> 00:24:20,041
{n8}and the entry into Havana of rebel forces
to be acclaimed by the city.
318
00:24:20,125 --> 00:24:21,293
FIDEL: GREETS YOU
319
00:24:21,376 --> 00:24:26,465
Fidel Castro, a lawyer,
a very prominent political figure in Cuba,
320
00:24:26,548 --> 00:24:29,468
pulled off an improbable, uh, revolution.
321
00:24:31,219 --> 00:24:32,804
For over a hundred years,
322
00:24:32,888 --> 00:24:36,850
the United States treated Latin America
as our backyard.
323
00:24:36,933 --> 00:24:40,729
And Cuba was the closest part
of that backyard.
324
00:24:40,812 --> 00:24:43,982
It's only 90 miles
off the shore of Florida.
325
00:24:44,733 --> 00:24:48,069
{n8}This region was presumed
to be ours to control,
326
00:24:48,153 --> 00:24:51,114
{n8}and it became clear that, uh,
327
00:24:51,198 --> 00:24:54,701
{n8}Castro could not be told what to do
by the United States.
328
00:24:54,784 --> 00:24:58,663
What imperialists
cannot forgive is that we are here
329
00:24:58,747 --> 00:25:02,000
and that we have made
a socialist revolution
330
00:25:02,083 --> 00:25:04,252
under the very nose of the United States.
331
00:25:06,296 --> 00:25:09,508
Fidel Castro
promoted agricultural reform.
332
00:25:09,591 --> 00:25:12,093
He nationalized US oil refineries
333
00:25:12,177 --> 00:25:15,597
so that they wouldn't be dependent
on the United States for oil.
334
00:25:17,015 --> 00:25:22,187
{n8}Castro began nationalizing the properties
of the wealthiest class of Cubans,
335
00:25:22,270 --> 00:25:25,190
{n8}Cubans who owned ranches, and big farms,
336
00:25:25,273 --> 00:25:29,110
and businesses, and factories,
and sugar plantations.
337
00:25:31,154 --> 00:25:33,031
{n8}My father was a pediatrician.
338
00:25:33,114 --> 00:25:39,746
{n8}So I grew up in what was probably
a very nice society.
339
00:25:40,539 --> 00:25:45,001
We begin then to see
the interference of communists.
340
00:25:46,211 --> 00:25:49,214
There was a tremendous resentment
in the street for anybody
341
00:25:49,297 --> 00:25:51,591
that had any kind of wealth.
342
00:25:52,759 --> 00:25:54,761
So eventually I came to Miami.
343
00:25:55,887 --> 00:25:58,607
Many families have been forced
out of everything they owned,
344
00:25:58,682 --> 00:26:00,141
and they've all gone into exile.
345
00:26:00,225 --> 00:26:01,768
Most of them are in Miami.
346
00:26:01,851 --> 00:26:06,439
But much of the middle class
is still supportive of Castro.
347
00:26:07,983 --> 00:26:11,152
Castro revealed
his true colors as a communist.
348
00:26:12,195 --> 00:26:14,656
So the Americans
were determined to overthrow him
349
00:26:14,739 --> 00:26:19,494
like they had overthrown
Árbenz in Guatemala and Mossadegh in Iran.
350
00:26:20,996 --> 00:26:22,956
Over and over again,
351
00:26:23,039 --> 00:26:26,209
the United States
was subverting governments
352
00:26:26,293 --> 00:26:29,004
in the name of American democracy.
353
00:26:30,630 --> 00:26:33,425
{n8}The CIA had this elaborate plan
it had developed
354
00:26:33,508 --> 00:26:37,929
{n8}to recruit and train
an army of Cuban exiles
355
00:26:38,763 --> 00:26:41,933
to overthrow and kill Fidel Castro.
356
00:26:43,268 --> 00:26:46,354
Like so many of the CIA's
operations in the Cold War,
357
00:26:47,022 --> 00:26:49,566
it was ill-conceived and ill-run.
358
00:26:50,775 --> 00:26:53,153
They would launch
a paramilitary invasion of Cuba
359
00:26:53,236 --> 00:26:56,865
with about a thousand exiles
led by the CIA.
360
00:26:57,449 --> 00:27:01,328
And their assumption
was that the Cuban people would rise up
361
00:27:01,911 --> 00:27:03,622
when the invaders arrived,
362
00:27:03,705 --> 00:27:04,831
you know, and join them,
363
00:27:04,914 --> 00:27:09,669
{n8}and that Castro's government
would fall within a week or days.
364
00:27:11,004 --> 00:27:14,257
But these assumptions
proved to be false.
365
00:27:15,008 --> 00:27:19,638
They were not tested either politically
by Kennedy and his political team,
366
00:27:20,722 --> 00:27:25,435
or by the intelligence officers
in the operations directorate of the CIA.
367
00:27:28,521 --> 00:27:30,357
The CIA
had come to think of itself
368
00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:33,652
as omnipotent in these covert operations,
and boy, were they wrong.
369
00:27:35,737 --> 00:27:38,615
Castro had very good intelligence.
370
00:27:38,698 --> 00:27:42,535
He had at least one source
in Guatemala in the training camp,
371
00:27:42,619 --> 00:27:45,288
and he had sources
all around the streets of Miami.
372
00:27:48,166 --> 00:27:52,796
I signed up December 3 or 4th of 1960,
373
00:27:53,755 --> 00:27:58,635
and I was called upon
to go to the training camps in January.
374
00:28:01,262 --> 00:28:03,390
{n8}I had no military background.
375
00:28:04,432 --> 00:28:06,851
I thought we were gonna land in there
376
00:28:06,935 --> 00:28:10,230
and we were gonna fight
Castro's government head-on,
377
00:28:10,313 --> 00:28:14,442
and that we were going to bring in
freedom to all the Cubans
378
00:28:14,526 --> 00:28:16,569
and get rid of communism.
379
00:28:18,613 --> 00:28:20,865
The CIA,
in its inimical wisdom,
380
00:28:20,949 --> 00:28:24,077
picked a location in Cuba
at the Bay of Pigs,
381
00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:28,415
where Castro's reforms
had actually changed the lives
382
00:28:28,498 --> 00:28:30,917
of everybody in that area for the better.
383
00:28:31,584 --> 00:28:33,294
Castro had brought in electricity,
384
00:28:33,378 --> 00:28:36,715
water systems, education,
a literacy campaign.
385
00:28:36,798 --> 00:28:39,843
So there was nobody
that wasn't a supporter of Castro there.
386
00:28:46,599 --> 00:28:48,079
The Bay of Pigs, it's a...
387
00:28:48,727 --> 00:28:50,270
You land in the middle of a swamp.
388
00:28:51,646 --> 00:28:55,525
The beach in Girón, the mainland,
this spot had a coral reef on the outside
389
00:28:55,608 --> 00:28:58,361
that prevented landing ships
from getting to shore.
390
00:29:01,531 --> 00:29:04,617
We were landing at night,
four o'clock in the morning.
391
00:29:04,701 --> 00:29:08,913
We had to jump from the reef
to the water with all our weapons,
392
00:29:09,622 --> 00:29:14,127
with a piece of a mortar
with two boxes of, uh, ammunition,
393
00:29:14,210 --> 00:29:15,712
and the water up to your neck.
394
00:29:15,795 --> 00:29:19,090
And as soon as we reached shore,
the shooting began.
395
00:29:21,843 --> 00:29:23,678
Castro was ready for us.
396
00:29:24,971 --> 00:29:28,683
They sent first a battalion
of a thousand men with tanks.
397
00:29:31,311 --> 00:29:34,230
Then they sent another battalion
in the afternoon.
398
00:29:35,815 --> 00:29:38,860
And then at night, they attacked us
with artillery for four hours.
399
00:29:41,237 --> 00:29:44,449
We couldn't advance
very far from the beach.
400
00:29:45,658 --> 00:29:48,286
We ran out of heavy ammunition completely.
401
00:29:48,369 --> 00:29:50,914
No food, no air cover.
402
00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:56,252
That's when we really
came to terms with reality
403
00:29:56,336 --> 00:29:58,797
that we were abandoned and betrayed.
404
00:30:02,759 --> 00:30:04,177
They captured us.
405
00:30:06,095 --> 00:30:07,847
We were in prison 21 months.
406
00:30:08,389 --> 00:30:09,557
It was a disaster.
407
00:30:11,810 --> 00:30:14,312
There's an old saying
that victory has 100 fathers
408
00:30:14,395 --> 00:30:16,064
and defeat is an orphan.
409
00:30:16,648 --> 00:30:20,527
{n8}Through the statement's
detailed, uh, discussions,
410
00:30:22,237 --> 00:30:25,490
I'm not to, uh, conceal responsibility
411
00:30:25,573 --> 00:30:27,992
because I'm the responsible officer
of the government,
412
00:30:28,076 --> 00:30:30,912
but merely because I...
And that is quite obvious.
413
00:30:30,995 --> 00:30:34,666
But merely because I do not believe
that such a discussion
414
00:30:34,749 --> 00:30:38,795
would benefit us
during the present difficult...
415
00:30:40,046 --> 00:30:41,673
uh, situation.
416
00:30:43,299 --> 00:30:46,803
The Bay of Pigs
turned out to be the perfect failure.
417
00:30:47,595 --> 00:30:52,809
All the planning,
all the execution of this grandiose,
418
00:30:52,892 --> 00:30:57,689
blatant, flagrant, active intervention
from the United States
419
00:30:57,772 --> 00:31:01,484
became the biggest fiasco for the CIA
420
00:31:01,568 --> 00:31:04,153
and for the young new president
John F. Kennedy.
421
00:31:05,572 --> 00:31:07,448
The world, frankly, was aghast.
422
00:31:09,242 --> 00:31:12,412
And that led to the most
extraordinary consequence,
423
00:31:13,121 --> 00:31:15,665
the decision by Nikita Khrushchev to put
424
00:31:15,748 --> 00:31:18,293
intermediate-range
nuclear missiles in Cuba
425
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:22,881
as a way of making sure
that the United States would be deterred
426
00:31:22,964 --> 00:31:24,757
from invading Cuba again,
427
00:31:24,841 --> 00:31:28,887
and to help the Soviet Union
kind of psychologically balance
428
00:31:28,970 --> 00:31:32,473
the mismatch and the size
of the US nuclear arsenal
429
00:31:32,557 --> 00:31:34,726
and the Russian nuclear arsenal.
430
00:31:37,770 --> 00:31:41,190
Soviets were having a hard time
with intercontinental ballistic missiles.
431
00:31:42,233 --> 00:31:45,486
The Americans could project power
in a way the Soviets couldn't.
432
00:31:46,070 --> 00:31:48,281
Soviets didn't have
any aircraft carriers, for example.
433
00:31:50,408 --> 00:31:53,912
So, Khrushchev came up with this idea.
Well, the only way to scare them
434
00:31:53,995 --> 00:31:58,041
{n8}is to put missiles
90 miles from the United States.
435
00:32:03,046 --> 00:32:06,966
The first missile installation
was under construction
436
00:32:07,050 --> 00:32:09,761
near a town called San Cristóbal
437
00:32:10,845 --> 00:32:14,182
in Western Cuba in October of '62.
438
00:32:15,516 --> 00:32:18,686
It was a medium-range
ballistic missile installation.
439
00:32:20,521 --> 00:32:23,399
The missiles arrived
on these large ships.
440
00:32:24,525 --> 00:32:27,862
The Soviets didn't want
American reconnaissance planes
441
00:32:27,946 --> 00:32:29,697
to recognize what was happening,
442
00:32:29,781 --> 00:32:32,784
so the people on the ships
were kept below deck.
443
00:32:34,661 --> 00:32:36,996
All of a sudden,
there were big trucks coming in
444
00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:38,790
under the cover of night.
445
00:32:40,041 --> 00:32:43,795
They're so huge that the streets
in the little town tremble,
446
00:32:43,878 --> 00:32:46,547
and the trucks
can't make it around corners.
447
00:32:46,631 --> 00:32:48,758
The Cuban police
would tell them to stay inside,
448
00:32:48,841 --> 00:32:51,803
but they'd peek out their windows,
and through the slats,
449
00:32:51,886 --> 00:32:56,975
people could make out the large trucks
with large, long beds.
450
00:32:57,058 --> 00:32:59,185
And on the beds of the truck were tarps.
451
00:32:59,268 --> 00:33:03,189
People said that the things under
the tarps looked like large palm trees.
452
00:33:05,733 --> 00:33:10,196
The United States had
a few spies and a few defectors from Cuba
453
00:33:10,279 --> 00:33:13,866
who provided very precise information
454
00:33:13,950 --> 00:33:16,744
about areas west of Havana,
the capital city,
455
00:33:16,828 --> 00:33:19,080
where some very strange things
were going on.
456
00:33:20,373 --> 00:33:22,750
The intelligence community said,
"Mr. President,
457
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:28,631
please consider approving
the U-2 spy plane flight over Cuba."
458
00:33:30,258 --> 00:33:36,014
So they carefully plotted out
one crossing of the island
459
00:33:36,097 --> 00:33:41,728
around where spies
had indicated very suspicious activity.
460
00:33:42,603 --> 00:33:46,941
{n8}It was that flight that found
the missiles on October 14th.
461
00:33:49,277 --> 00:33:50,987
The days that followed
462
00:33:51,070 --> 00:33:54,198
come to be known
as the Cuban Missile Crisis.
463
00:33:54,282 --> 00:33:57,326
In Cuba, they call it
the Crisis de Octubre,
464
00:33:57,410 --> 00:33:59,370
the Crisis of October.
465
00:34:05,501 --> 00:34:07,587
Kennedy is furious.
466
00:34:10,923 --> 00:34:13,968
{n8}The launch site at one
of the encampments contains a total
467
00:34:14,052 --> 00:34:17,805
{n8}of at least
14 canvas-covered missile trailers.
468
00:34:17,889 --> 00:34:19,724
How far advanced is this?
469
00:34:19,807 --> 00:34:23,061
{n8}Sir, we've never seen
this kind of an installation before.
470
00:34:23,144 --> 00:34:25,584
{n8}- Not even in the Soviet Union?
- No, sir.
471
00:34:27,398 --> 00:34:28,958
It's a goddamn mystery to me.
472
00:34:29,025 --> 00:34:30,735
I don't know enough
about the Soviet Union,
473
00:34:30,818 --> 00:34:33,863
but if anybody can tell me
any other time since the Berlin blockade
474
00:34:33,946 --> 00:34:38,201
where the Russians have given us
so clear a provocation,
475
00:34:38,284 --> 00:34:39,786
I don't know what it's been.
476
00:34:43,122 --> 00:34:46,542
For six days, there were secret
deliberations in Washington
477
00:34:46,626 --> 00:34:49,295
about how to respond
to the presence of the missiles.
478
00:34:49,378 --> 00:34:51,672
What would be the best way
to get them out?
479
00:34:51,756 --> 00:34:54,884
And, of course,
almost everybody in the administration
480
00:34:54,967 --> 00:34:56,969
were focused on an act of aggression.
481
00:35:00,473 --> 00:35:03,017
Attack the missile sites by air,
482
00:35:03,101 --> 00:35:07,271
and then launch an invasion
for us to unseat the Cuban regime.
483
00:35:08,648 --> 00:35:13,945
The military started to amass
a massive invasion force.
484
00:35:16,489 --> 00:35:19,659
{n8}I joined the Marines
because I thought it would be
485
00:35:19,742 --> 00:35:23,996
{n8}the most challenging of the services,
which it turned out to be.
486
00:35:24,997 --> 00:35:31,462
{n8}I was told that we had to pack RC bags
because we were going, uh, to Cuba.
487
00:35:32,672 --> 00:35:38,427
We, as Marines, would be planning
an invasion of Cuba itself,
488
00:35:38,511 --> 00:35:41,848
and that's where we practiced on,
the island of Vieques,
489
00:35:41,931 --> 00:35:44,684
and landing on the beaches.
490
00:35:45,977 --> 00:35:48,229
I was aboard a troop transport.
491
00:35:50,481 --> 00:35:53,192
And they put these cargo nets
over the side,
492
00:35:53,276 --> 00:35:56,863
and we had to climb down these nets
with our backpacks and rifles,
493
00:35:56,946 --> 00:36:02,743
and all our gear into these wooden boats
from World War II vintage.
494
00:36:05,163 --> 00:36:08,040
I just happened
to have my camera with me,
495
00:36:08,124 --> 00:36:12,587
and I took photographs
of the chaos at the time.
496
00:36:13,588 --> 00:36:16,716
When we looked down the beach
as far as you could see,
497
00:36:16,799 --> 00:36:19,468
there was personnel and equipment.
498
00:36:21,721 --> 00:36:24,891
It was clear
that it might be only hours
499
00:36:24,974 --> 00:36:28,686
before the United States
launched air strikes on Cuba.
500
00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:34,567
The dangers were extraordinary.
501
00:36:35,985 --> 00:36:40,072
The CIA estimated there were
8,000 Soviet personnel on the island.
502
00:36:40,156 --> 00:36:43,034
In reality, there were 42,000.
503
00:36:44,035 --> 00:36:46,871
Kennedy started to actually think through,
504
00:36:46,954 --> 00:36:51,292
"If I end up being responsible for
the death of that many Soviet soldiers,
505
00:36:51,959 --> 00:36:55,338
what is the pressure going to be
on Nikita Khrushchev to retaliate?"
506
00:36:56,005 --> 00:37:00,009
"Will he retaliate by attacking us?
Will he retaliate by attacking Berlin?"
507
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:04,472
"If he attacks Berlin, we will definitely
have World War III on our hands."
508
00:37:04,555 --> 00:37:07,516
"How will we keep
nuclear weapons from being used?"
509
00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:16,080
The question really is,
510
00:37:16,150 --> 00:37:19,654
are we willing to pay
some kind of a rather substantial price
511
00:37:20,321 --> 00:37:23,699
to eliminate these missiles?
I think the price is going to be high.
512
00:37:24,742 --> 00:37:26,369
You mean nuclear exchange?
513
00:37:29,789 --> 00:37:32,375
To give you a sense
of the danger zone
514
00:37:32,458 --> 00:37:34,877
that was developing on and around Cuba,
515
00:37:34,961 --> 00:37:38,005
you had missiles
that could reach the United States.
516
00:37:38,589 --> 00:37:43,594
You had nuclear-tipped torpedoes
on submarines headed toward the Caribbean.
517
00:37:45,471 --> 00:37:50,268
And you had additional missiles
on ships also going to Cuba.
518
00:37:51,686 --> 00:37:53,020
What are Kennedy's options?
519
00:37:56,357 --> 00:37:59,944
One is an air strike to knock out
the missiles that have been found.
520
00:38:01,362 --> 00:38:06,659
Two, an air strike,
plus an invasion to occupy Cuba
521
00:38:06,742 --> 00:38:09,203
and achieve regime change.
522
00:38:09,829 --> 00:38:14,333
Three, some kind of diplomacy
with the Soviets.
523
00:38:15,793 --> 00:38:20,715
That third option was known
as the blockade, or quarantine option.
524
00:38:20,798 --> 00:38:26,887
Basically, making sure the Soviets
could not... bring more missiles to Cuba.
525
00:38:26,971 --> 00:38:31,517
{n8}Just the whole question
of assuming you do survive all this.
526
00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:35,021
{n8}We don't have... The fact that we're not...
What kind of a country we are.
527
00:38:36,689 --> 00:38:41,777
Robert F. Kennedy
is the most important factor
528
00:38:41,861 --> 00:38:46,490
in shifting majority support
from the hawks
529
00:38:46,574 --> 00:38:52,038
to those who want to seek some way
short of war to deal with the missiles.
530
00:38:53,164 --> 00:38:55,624
We've talked for 15 years
that the Russians
531
00:38:55,708 --> 00:38:57,908
doing a first strike against us,
and we'd never do that.
532
00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:00,504
Now, in the interest of time,
we do that to a small country.
533
00:39:01,839 --> 00:39:05,009
I think that's a hell
of a burden to carry.
534
00:39:07,345 --> 00:39:10,431
Kennedy asks the big question
of the US Air Force.
535
00:39:11,557 --> 00:39:15,353
"If we go ahead with an air strike,
can you get all of the missiles?"
536
00:39:16,437 --> 00:39:20,024
And the Air Force says, "Mr. President,
we can get about 90% of them."
537
00:39:21,776 --> 00:39:25,529
"Well, what happens to the other 10%?"
538
00:39:25,613 --> 00:39:28,783
And the military says,
"Well, they could be launched."
539
00:39:30,117 --> 00:39:34,246
"And the consequence
could be millions of people dying
540
00:39:34,330 --> 00:39:35,664
in the United States."
541
00:39:39,085 --> 00:39:40,669
And he couldn't take that risk.
542
00:39:40,753 --> 00:39:46,092
And so Kennedy, reluctantly,
embraced the blockade option.
543
00:39:47,343 --> 00:39:53,682
Because it was the only sane,
ethical response in the nuclear age.
544
00:39:55,184 --> 00:40:00,648
And that is the response that he shares
with the world on October 22nd.
545
00:40:01,732 --> 00:40:03,859
Good evening,
my fellow citizens.
546
00:40:04,568 --> 00:40:09,073
This government has maintained
the closest surveillance
547
00:40:09,156 --> 00:40:12,827
of the Soviet military buildup
on the island of Cuba.
548
00:40:13,661 --> 00:40:14,912
Within the past week,
549
00:40:15,704 --> 00:40:18,374
unmistakable evidence
has established the fact
550
00:40:19,041 --> 00:40:22,169
that a series of offensive missile sites
551
00:40:22,253 --> 00:40:25,756
is now in preparation
on that imprisoned island.
552
00:40:26,674 --> 00:40:28,676
The purpose of these bases
553
00:40:28,759 --> 00:40:33,264
can be none other than to provide
a nuclear strike capability
554
00:40:33,347 --> 00:40:35,182
against the western hemisphere.
555
00:40:36,517 --> 00:40:39,353
We were part
of, uh, the quarantine fleet.
556
00:40:42,273 --> 00:40:46,777
We were to keep the Russians
from sending any more missiles into Cuba.
557
00:40:48,612 --> 00:40:51,073
- This was at DEFCON 2?
- Yes.
558
00:40:51,657 --> 00:40:53,242
What is DEFCON 2?
559
00:40:53,325 --> 00:40:55,870
This has to do
with a state of readiness.
560
00:40:56,787 --> 00:40:58,622
When they get to DEFCON 2,
561
00:40:58,706 --> 00:41:02,042
that's the last step
before all-out nuclear war,
562
00:41:02,126 --> 00:41:03,502
which is DEFCON 1.
563
00:41:05,212 --> 00:41:10,134
All these safety devices that they have
on these nuclear weapons are off.
564
00:41:10,634 --> 00:41:12,595
They're ready to launch, in other words.
565
00:41:13,721 --> 00:41:17,016
Hundreds and hundreds
of our planes are airborne,
566
00:41:17,099 --> 00:41:20,478
headed towards the Soviet Union
with one thing in mind,
567
00:41:20,561 --> 00:41:24,106
that this could be a nuclear war
and we may not be returning.
568
00:41:27,359 --> 00:41:31,113
It's the closest you could possibly come
to all-out nuclear war.
569
00:41:37,953 --> 00:41:40,998
Castro dictates a letter
to send to Khrushchev.
570
00:41:44,585 --> 00:41:45,585
Castro writes,
571
00:41:45,628 --> 00:41:50,883
"We are at what I believe to be
the end stage of this crisis,
572
00:41:50,966 --> 00:41:53,511
and there are two possibilities now."
573
00:41:54,803 --> 00:41:57,014
"One is that the Americans
will invade Cuba
574
00:41:57,765 --> 00:41:59,391
and they will seek to occupy Cuba."
575
00:42:00,851 --> 00:42:04,605
"The other is that they're going
to try to destroy your missiles
576
00:42:04,688 --> 00:42:06,941
that are armed with nuclear warheads."
577
00:42:08,025 --> 00:42:10,569
"You must strike preemptively
578
00:42:10,653 --> 00:42:15,115
with all of your nuclear forces
against American targets."
579
00:42:15,991 --> 00:42:19,161
"You must not wait
for the Americans to fire."
580
00:42:19,245 --> 00:42:20,621
"You must act first."
581
00:42:27,336 --> 00:42:30,297
Even though it was Khrushchev's
idea to put the missiles in Cuba,
582
00:42:30,381 --> 00:42:34,385
I think Khrushchev comes to worry
quite a bit about Fidel Castro.
583
00:42:44,436 --> 00:42:46,230
The 12th day,
584
00:42:46,313 --> 00:42:49,149
some of the most
precarious things occurred
585
00:42:50,067 --> 00:42:55,155
that put the Cold War
onto a much higher plateau of danger.
586
00:42:55,239 --> 00:42:57,825
An unprecedented plateau of danger.
587
00:42:59,451 --> 00:43:02,079
On Saturday, October 27th,
588
00:43:03,414 --> 00:43:09,295
a US U-2 spy plane was shot down
by a Soviet anti-aircraft battery.
589
00:43:10,170 --> 00:43:11,797
A U-2 was shot down.
590
00:43:12,423 --> 00:43:15,676
They fired against
our low-altitude surveillance.
591
00:43:15,759 --> 00:43:18,846
{n8}A U-2 was shot down?
This is much of an escalation by them.
592
00:43:18,929 --> 00:43:22,725
{n8}Yes, exactly.
I think we can defer an air attack on Cuba
593
00:43:22,808 --> 00:43:26,895
until Wednesday or Thursday,
but only if we continue our surveillance
594
00:43:27,563 --> 00:43:32,401
and... and, uh, fire against anything that
fires against a surveillance aircraft.
595
00:43:34,570 --> 00:43:36,614
Moscow did not authorize this,
596
00:43:37,573 --> 00:43:42,703
and Khrushchev was appalled when he heard
that the U-2 had been shot down.
597
00:43:42,786 --> 00:43:44,371
He did not order that.
598
00:43:44,455 --> 00:43:49,835
{n8}Write to Khrushchev.
Here's an action they've taken against us.
599
00:43:51,337 --> 00:43:55,049
A new order in defiance
of a public statement.
600
00:43:55,841 --> 00:43:59,637
{n8}- I think we ought to.
- They've fired the first shot.
601
00:44:03,098 --> 00:44:05,100
The Air Force, at that point,
602
00:44:05,184 --> 00:44:08,646
were within minutes
of sending back retaliatory forces.
603
00:44:10,064 --> 00:44:13,150
But Kennedy held back and said,
"We'll give them another day,"
604
00:44:13,233 --> 00:44:16,403
{n8}because he was trying to negotiate
an end to the crisis.
605
00:44:18,238 --> 00:44:22,117
Khrushchev had decided
that he needed to find an off-ramp.
606
00:44:22,785 --> 00:44:27,122
He tells the leadership,
"We got to find a way out of this."
607
00:44:27,206 --> 00:44:29,458
He wants to do it and save face.
608
00:44:31,794 --> 00:44:35,547
What Khrushchev wants to get from Kennedy
is a promise not to invade Cuba.
609
00:44:36,173 --> 00:44:40,803
As it becomes clear
that the Americans are afraid,
610
00:44:41,595 --> 00:44:44,014
Khrushchev decides,
"I want more than that."
611
00:44:44,682 --> 00:44:48,394
"I want Kennedy
to pull those missiles out of Turkey
612
00:44:49,311 --> 00:44:52,773
and pull the missiles
that NATO has in Italy."
613
00:45:01,156 --> 00:45:03,826
Kennedy sent his brother,
Robert Kennedy,
614
00:45:03,909 --> 00:45:06,870
{n8}to secretly meet with the Soviet
ambassador to Washington,
615
00:45:06,954 --> 00:45:11,500
{n8}Anatoly Dobrynin,
the night of Saturday, October 27th.
616
00:45:13,001 --> 00:45:14,461
Robert Kennedy said,
617
00:45:14,545 --> 00:45:18,006
"We would swap
the missiles that we have in Turkey
618
00:45:18,090 --> 00:45:20,676
for the withdrawal
of the missiles in Cuba."
619
00:45:20,759 --> 00:45:25,222
"We will never publicly acknowledge
that there was a quid pro quo
620
00:45:25,305 --> 00:45:29,768
to ending the Missile Crisis this way,
but we will do that."
621
00:45:30,769 --> 00:45:34,106
"I'm representing my brother,
and you have his word
622
00:45:34,189 --> 00:45:37,067
that that will happen
down the road from now."
623
00:45:44,074 --> 00:45:48,078
Khrushchev decided
to announce publicly on the radio,
624
00:45:48,162 --> 00:45:50,080
so that Kennedy would hear it quickly,
625
00:45:50,164 --> 00:45:54,042
that the Soviet Union
was agreeing to withdraw the missiles
626
00:45:54,126 --> 00:45:57,838
on the basis of the pledge
that the United States was making
627
00:45:57,921 --> 00:45:59,715
that it would not invade Cuba.
628
00:46:01,425 --> 00:46:02,760
The Soviet government
629
00:46:02,843 --> 00:46:06,096
has ordered the dismantling
of weapons in Cuba,
630
00:46:06,180 --> 00:46:10,392
as well as their crating
and return to the Soviet Union.
631
00:46:10,476 --> 00:46:12,561
Radio Moscow at 9:00 this morning.
632
00:46:12,644 --> 00:46:15,439
Mr. Khrushchev crating up his missiles
and shipping them home.
633
00:46:17,316 --> 00:46:20,444
Khrushchev never said
anything publicly
634
00:46:20,527 --> 00:46:24,490
about the connection between the removal
of the missiles from Turkey
635
00:46:24,573 --> 00:46:26,742
and his removal of the missiles from Cuba.
636
00:46:26,825 --> 00:46:28,535
Never. He never crowed about it.
637
00:46:30,078 --> 00:46:33,332
And that secret
basically kept being a secret
638
00:46:33,415 --> 00:46:35,000
for years and years and years,
639
00:46:35,083 --> 00:46:39,087
much distorting everybody's understanding
of how the Missile Crisis ended.
640
00:46:42,090 --> 00:46:44,218
Castro is livid.
641
00:46:44,885 --> 00:46:47,930
He wasn't consulted
on the withdrawal happening.
642
00:46:48,013 --> 00:46:50,390
He heard about it,
you know, basically on the radio,
643
00:46:50,474 --> 00:46:52,434
when the rest of the world
learned about it,
644
00:46:53,268 --> 00:46:57,856
and he essentially believed
that by withdrawing the missiles,
645
00:46:57,940 --> 00:47:00,859
the Soviets were giving the US
a green light to invade.
646
00:47:00,943 --> 00:47:03,111
We know what we are doing.
647
00:47:03,195 --> 00:47:05,072
And we know how to defend ourselves,
648
00:47:05,155 --> 00:47:07,950
our integrity, and our sovereignty.
649
00:47:13,163 --> 00:47:17,042
It's clear to me
neither Kennedy nor Khrushchev
650
00:47:17,125 --> 00:47:20,712
had any desire
to go to armed conflict with the other.
651
00:47:22,381 --> 00:47:26,760
Each of them was threatening it openly
and to their subordinates.
652
00:47:26,844 --> 00:47:29,096
"Get ready for it. We're gonna do it."
653
00:47:29,179 --> 00:47:30,180
Et cetera.
654
00:47:31,431 --> 00:47:34,977
Both of them were bluffing,
but they weren't in control.
655
00:47:40,232 --> 00:47:45,279
The Cuban Missile Crisis
brings home to the American people
656
00:47:45,362 --> 00:47:50,534
just how real the possibility
of nuclear war actually is.
657
00:47:56,290 --> 00:47:58,166
Total war makes no sense
658
00:47:59,251 --> 00:48:03,130
{n8}in an age where great powers
can maintain large
659
00:48:04,464 --> 00:48:06,925
{n8}and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces
660
00:48:07,843 --> 00:48:12,055
and refuse to surrender
without resort to those forces.
661
00:48:13,348 --> 00:48:18,770
Kennedy, some months later,
spoke of his sincere, genuine commitment
662
00:48:19,479 --> 00:48:21,481
to strive with the Soviets
663
00:48:21,565 --> 00:48:25,068
for peaceful solutions to our conflicts.
664
00:48:25,152 --> 00:48:28,405
Today, the expenditure
of billions of dollars every year
665
00:48:29,281 --> 00:48:33,368
on weapons acquired for the purpose
of making sure we never need them,
666
00:48:33,452 --> 00:48:35,704
is essential to the keeping of peace.
667
00:48:36,747 --> 00:48:41,501
But surely, the acquisition
of such idle stockpiles,
668
00:48:42,336 --> 00:48:45,005
which can only destroy and never create,
669
00:48:45,088 --> 00:48:49,760
is not the only,
much less the most efficient,
670
00:48:49,843 --> 00:48:51,303
means of assuring peace.
671
00:48:55,933 --> 00:49:00,103
The Soviets and Americans
also agreed after the Missile Crisis,
672
00:49:00,187 --> 00:49:01,730
because of the Missile Crisis,
673
00:49:02,522 --> 00:49:05,734
{n8}to the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty,
674
00:49:05,817 --> 00:49:08,862
{n8}which put American and Soviet
nuclear testing underground,
675
00:49:08,946 --> 00:49:10,405
{n8}not in the atmosphere.
676
00:49:12,741 --> 00:49:15,869
In the aftermath
of the Cuban Missile Crisis,
677
00:49:15,953 --> 00:49:19,039
John F. Kennedy
and Nikita Khrushchev believe
678
00:49:19,122 --> 00:49:24,419
that Moscow and Washington shared
an interest in reducing nuclear tension.
679
00:49:25,504 --> 00:49:30,050
But within two years, they would be gone
from the center of power.
680
00:49:34,346 --> 00:49:37,766
Kennedy would be assassinated
in November of 1963...
681
00:49:41,186 --> 00:49:45,983
and Khrushchev will be toppled
in October of the next year.
682
00:49:47,317 --> 00:49:52,155
Khrushchev would lose his job in part
because of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
683
00:49:53,448 --> 00:49:56,827
The effort to put missiles in Cuba
was Khrushchev's baby.
684
00:49:57,744 --> 00:49:59,663
It was his brainchild.
685
00:49:59,746 --> 00:50:02,749
When it failed, it was his fault.
686
00:50:04,376 --> 00:50:06,003
He went quietly.
687
00:50:08,338 --> 00:50:12,300
He said, "My greatest achievement
is that today I'm ousted by mere voting."
688
00:50:12,968 --> 00:50:15,220
Because only ten years before that,
689
00:50:15,303 --> 00:50:17,597
he would have gone to gulag
and everybody else,
690
00:50:17,681 --> 00:50:19,349
the whole family, would go with him.
691
00:50:21,393 --> 00:50:26,857
Khrushchev had just put
the entire Soviet leadership through hell
692
00:50:26,940 --> 00:50:29,317
because of his original thinking.
693
00:50:30,318 --> 00:50:34,656
What the leadership wanted
was a completely banal,
694
00:50:35,407 --> 00:50:36,783
predictable,
695
00:50:36,867 --> 00:50:40,328
incredibly uninteresting leader.
696
00:50:40,912 --> 00:50:42,914
{n8}And they got that with Leonid Brezhnev.
697
00:50:43,957 --> 00:50:46,376
{n8}Our foreign policy
aims to consolidate
698
00:50:46,460 --> 00:50:49,588
{n8}and develop the world socialist system,
699
00:50:49,671 --> 00:50:54,009
{n8}mobilize all anti-imperialist forces
700
00:50:54,092 --> 00:50:58,263
to defend the cause of freedom,
of independence,
701
00:50:58,346 --> 00:51:02,100
and the security of people
in the cause of peace
702
00:51:02,184 --> 00:51:05,395
and progress throughout the world.
703
00:51:06,563 --> 00:51:09,983
Brezhnev importantly shares
one thing with Khrushchev.
704
00:51:10,776 --> 00:51:13,570
He does not want nuclear war.
705
00:51:14,529 --> 00:51:17,657
But Brezhnev and his colleagues
706
00:51:17,741 --> 00:51:21,495
do not ever want
to be in the position of inferiority
707
00:51:22,079 --> 00:51:24,581
that Khrushchev put them in in 1962,
708
00:51:25,165 --> 00:51:27,876
when they were looking
down the barrel of a gun.
709
00:51:30,378 --> 00:51:34,591
When the Americans were threatened
by the placement of missiles in Cuba,
710
00:51:34,674 --> 00:51:39,012
the Americans made clear to the Soviets
how much further ahead they were.
711
00:51:39,763 --> 00:51:40,931
And the Soviets knew it.
712
00:51:42,766 --> 00:51:45,644
So Brezhnev and his allies decide,
713
00:51:45,727 --> 00:51:49,856
"We're never again going to be as far
behind because we're gonna be ahead."
714
00:51:50,899 --> 00:51:54,152
{n8}And the Soviets launch
a missile-building program
715
00:51:54,820 --> 00:51:58,698
{n8}after the Cuban Missile Crisis,
not only to catch up, but to get ahead.
716
00:52:00,992 --> 00:52:04,454
{n8}Nuclear weapons, and the drive
for ever more powerful,
717
00:52:04,538 --> 00:52:07,040
{n8}or more functional,
or more versatile weapons,
718
00:52:07,124 --> 00:52:10,335
{n8}really drove much
of science and technology policy,
719
00:52:10,418 --> 00:52:12,671
but also national policy,
during the Cold War.
720
00:52:13,255 --> 00:52:16,007
At the same time,
the United States and the Soviet Union
721
00:52:16,091 --> 00:52:18,718
largely considered them
to be unusable weapons...
722
00:52:21,054 --> 00:52:23,306
because the use of an atomic weapon
723
00:52:23,390 --> 00:52:26,560
would basically trigger
a mutual suicide pact.
724
00:52:27,269 --> 00:52:28,687
By the late '60s,
725
00:52:28,770 --> 00:52:31,439
when we've taken
all these weapons, thousands of them,
726
00:52:31,523 --> 00:52:37,487
we've put them on missiles
that arrive in 27, 28, 30 minutes
727
00:52:37,571 --> 00:52:38,905
from launch to impact,
728
00:52:39,614 --> 00:52:44,703
we now have entered a situation
where you're simply not going to get away
729
00:52:44,786 --> 00:52:47,747
with a strike and survive somehow.
730
00:52:47,831 --> 00:52:49,416
{n8}There's going to be another strike.
731
00:52:49,499 --> 00:52:53,044
{n8}Your opponent is gonna fire those rockets
out of the ground.
732
00:52:53,128 --> 00:52:54,754
You're going to fire yours.
733
00:52:55,422 --> 00:53:01,636
And at some point, the assured destruction
reached such high levels on both sides
734
00:53:01,720 --> 00:53:04,681
that it became
mutually assured destruction.
735
00:53:09,019 --> 00:53:10,729
These weapons are so horrible
736
00:53:10,812 --> 00:53:13,315
that if one country used them
and the other responded,
737
00:53:13,398 --> 00:53:17,194
that the response would just
basically kill off the entire Earth.
738
00:53:18,028 --> 00:53:22,407
If you had dozens, hundreds,
thousands of nuclear explosions
739
00:53:22,490 --> 00:53:24,284
happening in very short order,
740
00:53:24,367 --> 00:53:26,077
it would coat the Earth in a film
741
00:53:26,161 --> 00:53:28,455
that would both
prevent sunlight from getting in,
742
00:53:28,538 --> 00:53:30,498
but also would prevent things
from growing,
743
00:53:30,582 --> 00:53:35,086
coating the entire globe
in alarming levels of fallout.
744
00:53:38,048 --> 00:53:40,300
So the United States and the Soviet Union
745
00:53:40,383 --> 00:53:42,719
could not engage in direct conflict.
746
00:53:43,428 --> 00:53:47,140
You have, instead, different kinds
of conflicts around the world
747
00:53:47,224 --> 00:53:49,142
as the United States and the Soviet Union
748
00:53:49,226 --> 00:53:52,771
conducted their battles
on proxy battlefields.
749
00:53:56,233 --> 00:53:58,944
{n8}Intervening
in other countries' civil wars.
750
00:53:59,819 --> 00:54:02,239
{n8}Taking part in interregional conflicts.
751
00:54:02,822 --> 00:54:04,658
Arming one side over the other.
752
00:54:06,409 --> 00:54:08,995
The Cold War was a global war.
753
00:54:09,079 --> 00:54:14,501
{n8}It was not simply a struggle for dominion
between Washington and Moscow.
754
00:54:15,377 --> 00:54:19,130
{n8}Every nation in the world
was a battleground in the Cold War
755
00:54:19,214 --> 00:54:23,760
{n8}between American-backed forces
and Soviet-backed forces.
756
00:54:27,931 --> 00:54:32,936
{n8}Every African nation was a battlefield
in the struggle for control.
757
00:54:36,231 --> 00:54:40,735
The proxy wars in Angola,
in Mozambique, and in Congo
758
00:54:41,319 --> 00:54:44,114
{n8}were particularly brutish,
759
00:54:44,197 --> 00:54:47,867
{n8}particularly nasty, and particularly long.
760
00:54:49,786 --> 00:54:55,417
Vietnam was not simply a war between
the United States and North Vietnam.
761
00:54:56,251 --> 00:55:01,047
{n8}The United States mobilized
all its allies throughout Asia.
762
00:55:01,631 --> 00:55:05,135
The North Vietnamese
were supplied and aided
763
00:55:05,218 --> 00:55:07,262
by the Soviet Union and China.
764
00:55:08,763 --> 00:55:12,100
In Latin America,
Cuba, El Salvador,
765
00:55:12,183 --> 00:55:14,311
and Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua,
766
00:55:14,394 --> 00:55:18,773
became cause célèbres
for US foreign policymakers
767
00:55:18,857 --> 00:55:22,861
{n8}who wanted to use the Cold War
as a rationale to intervene once again
768
00:55:22,944 --> 00:55:26,531
{n8}in countries that had already
suffered decades, if not centuries,
769
00:55:26,614 --> 00:55:28,533
{n8}of US intervention previously.
770
00:55:33,913 --> 00:55:37,959
In Chile, we helped
orchestrate the assassination
771
00:55:38,043 --> 00:55:41,338
of the commander in chief
of the Chilean Armed Forces,
772
00:55:41,421 --> 00:55:45,967
in order to overthrow
a democratically elected president
773
00:55:46,051 --> 00:55:47,927
of another country.
774
00:55:48,803 --> 00:55:54,893
{n8}And a military dictatorship
led by General Augusto Pinochet took over.
775
00:55:55,935 --> 00:55:58,521
Pinochet murdered his political opponents,
776
00:55:58,605 --> 00:56:02,484
and ruled by force and fear
for the next 17 years
777
00:56:02,567 --> 00:56:04,069
until the end of the Cold War.
778
00:56:08,365 --> 00:56:10,405
{n8}It's remarkable
the extent to which
779
00:56:10,450 --> 00:56:13,828
{n8}we abandoned those countries
after we overthrew their governments.
780
00:56:16,623 --> 00:56:21,002
{n8}Guatemala is now a corrupt
and highly violent country.
781
00:56:21,628 --> 00:56:23,630
It's wracked by gang violence,
782
00:56:23,713 --> 00:56:26,674
and the state has effectively
ceased to function.
783
00:56:28,968 --> 00:56:33,014
It's a country that was violently
thrown off the path to democracy,
784
00:56:33,098 --> 00:56:38,103
which it had been on for ten years
and which seemed to be taking hold.
785
00:56:39,938 --> 00:56:42,498
{n8}And you can say that about Iran
and many other countries
786
00:56:42,524 --> 00:56:44,859
{n8}where the United States has intervened.
787
00:56:48,488 --> 00:56:51,116
I think America
post-World War II
788
00:56:51,199 --> 00:56:54,285
had this just massive
crisis of confidence.
789
00:56:55,829 --> 00:56:57,831
Rather than standing on our ideals
790
00:56:58,415 --> 00:57:01,751
that we are going to be this exporter
of democracy,
791
00:57:01,835 --> 00:57:05,922
you know, as naive as that might sound,
what happened was this mentality set in,
792
00:57:06,005 --> 00:57:07,882
that everything was a zero-sum game,
793
00:57:08,508 --> 00:57:12,345
and we're going to get into bed with
whoever calls themselves anti-communist.
794
00:57:13,721 --> 00:57:15,682
I think there was a huge moral cost.
795
00:57:15,765 --> 00:57:17,851
We should have stood on our ideals.
796
00:57:21,938 --> 00:57:25,150
{n8}I, Richard Milhous Nixon,
do solemnly swear...
797
00:57:25,233 --> 00:57:28,653
{n8}That you will faithfully
execute the office...
798
00:57:28,736 --> 00:57:31,281
{n8}That I will faithfully execute the office...
799
00:57:31,364 --> 00:57:33,533
...of President of the United States.
800
00:57:33,616 --> 00:57:35,618
...of President of the United States.
801
00:57:39,747 --> 00:57:43,293
When Richard Nixon's elected,
takes office in 1969,
802
00:57:43,960 --> 00:57:48,548
he has a reputation for being
a really hard-line anti-communist,
803
00:57:48,631 --> 00:57:50,300
anti-Soviet kind of guy.
804
00:57:51,551 --> 00:57:55,054
Made his bones as an anti-communist
crusader in the '50s.
805
00:57:55,138 --> 00:57:57,056
{n8}The communists have been ruthless
806
00:57:57,557 --> 00:58:00,435
{n8}toward the people of the nations
they have engulfed.
807
00:58:00,518 --> 00:58:02,812
They have no memory of former favors,
808
00:58:03,313 --> 00:58:06,232
no kindness toward those
who tried to be friendly.
809
00:58:06,900 --> 00:58:09,694
They are cold and calculating masters.
810
00:58:13,740 --> 00:58:16,618
But as the president,
he approaches the Soviets and says,
811
00:58:16,701 --> 00:58:19,287
"Look, you don't like us,
we don't like you,
812
00:58:19,370 --> 00:58:20,997
but we can't blow up the world."
813
00:58:23,833 --> 00:58:26,294
"Mutual assured destruction
is a real thing."
814
00:58:26,794 --> 00:58:29,672
"We have to find some other way
to deal with each other."
815
00:58:36,971 --> 00:58:39,265
It's more than about
just nuclear weapons.
816
00:58:40,433 --> 00:58:42,769
Nixon goes to the Soviets and he says,
817
00:58:42,852 --> 00:58:46,189
"We will recognize you
as a legitimate superpower."
818
00:58:46,272 --> 00:58:50,485
And this policy comes to be known
by the term "détente."
819
00:58:57,242 --> 00:59:00,203
Now we have well begun the long journey,
820
00:59:00,870 --> 00:59:03,122
which will lead us to a new age
821
00:59:03,206 --> 00:59:05,750
in the relations
between our two countries.
822
00:59:07,752 --> 00:59:11,756
In 1972,
two major agreements were reached.
823
00:59:13,091 --> 00:59:16,135
One is the Strategic Arms
Limitation Agreement,
824
00:59:16,219 --> 00:59:17,971
which is called SALT I.
825
00:59:19,931 --> 00:59:23,643
It was the first effort
to limit strategic, offensive,
826
00:59:23,726 --> 00:59:25,895
big intercontinental ballistic missiles,
827
00:59:25,979 --> 00:59:28,439
sea-launched ballistic missiles,
bomber forces,
828
00:59:28,523 --> 00:59:30,316
and the warheads that go with them.
829
00:59:33,778 --> 00:59:36,906
There was also the so-called
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
830
00:59:36,990 --> 00:59:40,910
{n8}that put limitations on national
missile defense systems.
831
00:59:43,746 --> 00:59:47,667
Quickly, it became evident in the 1970s
832
00:59:47,750 --> 00:59:50,378
that the Soviets
were building capabilities
833
00:59:50,461 --> 00:59:55,508
to get out from under the constraints
of the first SALT agreement.
834
00:59:56,301 --> 00:59:59,929
They were putting multiple warheads
on each of their missiles.
835
01:00:00,638 --> 01:00:04,225
And so while the number of missiles
remained constrained,
836
01:00:04,309 --> 01:00:06,561
the number of warheads started to go up.
837
01:00:15,737 --> 01:00:19,198
On my command mark,
I'll be running at T-minus 1-0 minutes.
838
01:00:19,991 --> 01:00:21,534
If you look at the buildup
839
01:00:21,618 --> 01:00:23,911
of US and Russian
nuclear weapons over time,
840
01:00:23,995 --> 01:00:27,915
it was the United States
that built up first and fastest.
841
01:00:32,629 --> 01:00:36,090
{n8}It was in the 1960s
the United States peaked
842
01:00:36,174 --> 01:00:39,010
{n8}with somewhere around
30,000 nuclear weapons.
843
01:00:39,594 --> 01:00:44,098
{n8}That buildup then inspired
what was a follow-on Russian buildup.
844
01:00:44,182 --> 01:00:46,851
{n8}And so their peak was in the 1980s,
845
01:00:46,934 --> 01:00:50,021
{n8}where they had
about 40,000 nuclear weapons.
846
01:00:50,980 --> 01:00:55,109
{n8}So all told, it was a combined arsenal
of about 70,000 nuclear weapons.
847
01:00:56,819 --> 01:00:59,322
{n8}In promoting détente with the Soviets,
848
01:01:00,615 --> 01:01:03,159
{n8}American leaders
were telling the American people,
849
01:01:03,242 --> 01:01:07,413
{n8}"We don't really trust the Soviets,
but we know they don't want war."
850
01:01:07,914 --> 01:01:10,708
{n8}"And the best way for us to avoid war
851
01:01:10,792 --> 01:01:13,461
is to control
the number of nuclear missiles."
852
01:01:14,504 --> 01:01:17,674
There are many Americans who say,
"You can't trust the Soviets at all."
853
01:01:17,757 --> 01:01:19,717
"How do you know
they're not hiding missiles?"
854
01:01:19,801 --> 01:01:21,427
"How do you know where all of them are?"
855
01:01:22,679 --> 01:01:25,014
There was a growing group of Americans
856
01:01:25,098 --> 01:01:29,936
who began to worry that this effort
to regulate the nuclear conflict
857
01:01:30,019 --> 01:01:32,980
was only giving the Soviets
an opportunity to deceive us
858
01:01:33,064 --> 01:01:35,775
and ultimately to win in a nuclear war.
859
01:01:41,698 --> 01:01:45,493
{n8}Those Americans would later rally
in support of Ronald Reagan.
860
01:01:49,622 --> 01:01:52,291
{n8}This administration
has eroded our margin of safety
861
01:01:52,375 --> 01:01:54,877
{n8}and allowed our defensive capability
862
01:01:54,961 --> 01:01:59,006
{n8}to decline in this country
to the point that we are in danger
863
01:01:59,090 --> 01:02:01,968
and no longer can say
we are second to none.
864
01:02:02,593 --> 01:02:05,263
We are second to one, the Soviet Union.
865
01:02:06,472 --> 01:02:08,766
Reagan was a complicated man.
866
01:02:08,850 --> 01:02:11,018
Yes, he exaggerated Soviet power.
867
01:02:11,686 --> 01:02:15,022
Yes, he had a passionate dislike
for communists.
868
01:02:15,523 --> 01:02:17,275
But he also hated war,
869
01:02:18,109 --> 01:02:21,028
and he especially hated nuclear weapons.
870
01:02:22,280 --> 01:02:27,118
That is what I think
brought Gorbachev and Reagan together.
871
01:02:28,411 --> 01:02:32,498
{n8}The revulsion of nuclear weapons.
77543
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