Original subtitles

NARRATOR I 1976.

The United States celebrates 200 years

of independence and freedom.

A vigorous Jimmy Carter

was heading for the Presidency.

The Soviet Union, too,

displayed pride in its achievements

under the aging Leonid Brezhnev.

Both leaders promised

to reduce East-West tensions.

But within four years

the promises had turned to anger and mistrust.

The Cold War was far from over.

D ♪

NARRATION: Washington, DC,

January 20, 1977.

I believe the future is gonna be very bright for all of us.

You are partners of mine.

Together, I'm sure we'll reach for greatness

and we'll never disappoint the people

who put their trust in us.

Thank you. Have a good time.

We'll be seeing you tomorrow.

NARRATION: President Carter aimed to restore

self-confidence at home

and American leadership abroad.

MARY KING: Jimmy Carter was a completely fresh face.

He was, in essence, an outsider.

Nationally most people had never heard of him.

Jimmy who?

Jimmy Carter?

Jimmy who?

I don't know who he is.

Jimmy Carter is a baseball player, isn't he?

He would say things like, "I will never lie to you.

I believe in God.

I have always been faithful to my wife."

Now in Washington, you can imagine

the reaction was jaded,

and disbelieving, and...

um, contemptuous.

But people liked this very much.

They wanted someone who was fresh,

and someone who was new

and someone who was unsullied

by the traumas and problems

and corrosion of the past.

NARRATION: In his relations with the Soviet Union,

the new president wanted to promote

respect for human rights

and to press for major nuclear arms cuts.

We will move this year,

a step towards our ultimate goal --

the elimination of all nuclear weapons

from this earth.

NARRATION: President Ford and the Soviets had made

an interim agreement on nuclear arms cuts

at Vladivostok in November, 1974.

The agreement established common ceilings

for strategic arsenals.

President Ford's successor, Jimmy Carter,

wanted to go much further.

Brezhnev would be urged to put the arms race

into reverse.

Uncertain of Carter,

Brezhnev reaffirmed his faith in détente.

[speaking Russian ]

[ Applause ]

NARRATION: Carter sent Cyrus Vance, his Secretary of State,

to Moscow with a set of proposals --

one called for radical cuts

in strategic arsenals,

well below the Vladivostok levels.

Vance had given Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin a preview

of Carter's aims.

LESLIE H. GELB: The morning we departed for Europe,

Vance met with Dobrynin

and in effect, gave him the details

of the proposal that he would present

to Mr. Gromyko a few days hence.

Dobrynin said what he had said to us all along,

"It's Vladivostok.

Marginal cuts or nothing."

NARRATION: The Soviets bluntly rejected the American initiative.

[ Dobrynin speaking Russian ]

INTERPRETER: Our position was very simple --

we thought everything had been agreed

in Vladivostok.

What he was suggesting

was to make bigger, more drastic cuts,

which we knew would take a very long time.

In retrospect, I can see

that President Brezhnev was quite proud

of the limited agreement that he had concluded

in Vladivostok.

And to have a new American President come in and say,

"That is not good enough.

Let's do much more, and do it quite rapidly,"

took him by surprise.

NARRATION: At home,

Carter and Vance promoted the Moscow talks

as a positive move.

Cy, we're glad to have you back.

Thanks, Mr. President.

The whole of the trip was not only useful

but very necessary.

It seems to be that Mr. Gromyko agrees

with that conclusion,

and I do not believe,

contrary to what appeared in one of the papers today,

that there were any miscalculations.

We were very well prepared for what came up,

and I think on the whole, as I've said,

it was a very useful and necessary talk.

NARRATION: Other aides were less confident.

ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI: The Vance mission was a big disappointment to us.

The Russians adopted a very intransigent attitude,

and that was a disappointment to those who thought

that perhaps we could start a new administration,

the Carter administration,

with some wide-ranging agreement with the Russians.

It became clear that this would be much more difficult.

I think most of us on the American side knew

the fat was in the world publicity fire,

that here, the Carter administration

had gone to Moscow with new hopes, new dreams

to limit the nuclear arms race,

and had failed --

that it meant somehow

that we didn't understand the Soviets,

that the Carter team was inept,

and that we would not be able to manage

Soviet-American relations.

So this was to be a deep stab wound.

NARRATION: Carter proposed a 3% increase

in the American defense budget.

But those who saw détente as a trap,

demanded not parity, but nuclear superiority.

JEANE KIRKPATRICK: There was a strong view that détente was not working

and that the United States was becoming

progressively weaker

and the Soviet Union not only progressively stronger

in relationship to the United States

and the West,

but also more aggressive.

[ Narration in Russian ]

NARRATION: The Soviets were still pouring resources

into their military build up.

Huge deposits of oil and natural gas in Siberia

had insulated the Soviet Union

from the oil price rises

which had caused recession in the West.

Oil earned the Soviet Union

much-needed hard currency.

The Soviet people were constantly told

that their country was thriving,

and able to match the West in everything.

[ Brezhnev speaking Russian ]

NARRATION: In reality,

defense expenditure was draining

the civilian economy.

By 1977,

the geriatric Leonid Brezhnev was no longer

in full control.

[speaking Russian ]

The doctors began to limit the time

he was allowed to work.

His eyesight was going.

We had to change the font of his typewriter

to the largest one possible.

At that time the whole central running of the state

was in disarray.

Each member of the Politburo

began to work in his own interests

and in the interests of the section

of the economy he represented.

NARRATION: Beyond the Kremlin,

ordinary Russians were increasingly apathetic.

Living standards were poor.

Communist idealism had evaporated.

Everyday life was drab.

Détente had not changed

the Soviet Union's repressive ways.

The pressure to respect human rights

increased East-West tensions.

In 1975,

Brezhnev, Ford, and 33 other leaders

had signed the Helsinki Declaration.

For the first time,

the West had a powerful political weapon

to defend the cause of human rights

behind the Iron Curtain.

[speaking Russian ]

Thanks to the Helsinki Accord,

which the Soviets saw as just a piece of paper,

the attention of the world media

turned to our cause.

Suddenly, the American congress was dealing with it.

Heads of state were dealing with it.

It started influencing the whole character

of relations between East and West.

I was very convinced

before I became President

that basic human rights,

equality of opportunity,

the end of abuse

by governments of their people,

was a basic principle on which the United States

should be an acknowledged champion.

[speaking Russian ]

We said to the President,

"We are not going to let you put pressure on us.

This is an internal matter.

We are not going to discuss the subject

with you."

I was deeply committed to human rights.

I felt this was important,

but I will not hide the fact

that I also thought

that there was some instrumental utility

in our pursuit of human rights

vis-a-vis the Soviet Union.

And raising the issue of human rights

pointed to one of the fundamental weaknesses

of the Soviet system,

namely that it was a system based on oppression.

NARRATION: In Czechoslovakia,

dissidents secretly drew up Charter 77,

a human rights document that was smuggled

to the West.

The signatories were persecuted.

Many were imprisoned,

including playwright Vaclav Havel.

Under house arrest,

Havel made a clandestine recording.

HAVEL: That special house what you see now,

it isn't dream of Corbusier,

but I think more a dream of George Orwell

because it is house of police

which it build three months ago.

And the whole day, everyday,

they live inside

and they follow all my steps

and everything what I do in my country house.

Sometimes they are here also during the night

but mainly only during the day.

They are my new neighbors.

NARRATION: Even as he walked his dog,

police kept close.

Yet he had a sense of freedom and achievement.

[ Havel speaking Czech ]

INTERPRETER: I know from my experience

collecting signatures for the Charter

how tortuous it was for people

until they decided to sign.

When they did sign,

they found themselves in a state of euphoria.

It was a community of free people

in the middle of an unfree society.

They had a feeling of harmony with themselves.

NARRATION: Human rights activists in the communist bloc

set up Helsinki Watch Committees

to monitor and publicize human rights abuse.

Close links with the Western media

were forged by dissidents

such as physicist Andrei Sakharov.

[speaking Russian ]

NARRATION: Systematically intimidated,

dissidents ended up in KGB prisons.

[speaking Russian ]

The threat was

that their criticism of the Communist party

and the Socialist way of life

would become a platform

for attacking the regime.

It could turn into an organized political force.

That was what we were afraid of.

[chanting praying]

NARRATION: Jews were a distinctive group

among the dissidents.

They claimed the right to leave the Soviet Union,

but many were refused exit visas

and became known as Refuseniks.

NARRATION: Those who campaigned for their rights

were often punished with long prison sentences

in forced labor camps,

along with other political activists.

One Refusenik, imprisoned in Latvia

was Yakov Raskin.

[ Raskin speaking Russian ]

INTERPRETER: The whole territory was surrounded

by armed guards with dogs.

The door would open

and we would be split up into work groups

five people in each group.

Then in a few seconds we had to jump into those trucks

and it was like a closed cage inside.

I could see people outside in the streets.

Everyone was getting on with life

and I was jealous of them all.

I was envying them

and my heart was aching.

NARRATION: Another way of silencing Soviet dissidents

was to label them insane

and put them in mental hospitals.

Mind control drugs were used to make them recant.

[speaking Russian ]

They would tie us up for long periods.

They gave us handfuls of drugs,

three times a day,

so the body couldn't stand it anymore.

I was dumb for two years.

I couldn't speak.

My whole mouth and jaw were paralyzed.

My tongue was swollen.

My arms and legs were shaking.

I was dribbling.

I couldn't eat.

I couldn't unclench my teeth to force the food

into my mouth.

NARRATION: Soviet doctors who exposed the psychiatric abuse

to the West

risked imprisonment.

Dr. Anatoly Koryagin was jailed for 12 years.

[speaking Russian ]

I said to myself, I can't be silent

when people are kept in psychiatric hospitals

for their political beliefs.

We can't live on our knees like slaves

when they do these things.

NARRATION: In prison, Koryagin refused to admit

any wrongdoing.

[ Koryagin speaking Russian ]

INTERPRETER: They tried to break my will.

In January they opened all the doors,

letting in the cold air.

They poured cold water on me.

My body came out in huge pimples.

They put a bowl of hot water next to me,

and said, "Wash yourself."

I just lay there, next to that hot water,

because I was protesting.

It was like having food put in front of you

on a hunger strike.

In 1978,

the prominent Refusenik, Anatoly Sharansky,

was sentenced to 13 years

for espionage and treason.

Outside the court,

supporters, who included Andrei Sakharov,

defiantly publicized Sharanskys case

to the Western media.

[ Overlapping conversations ]

The KGB and the police looked on.

[speaking Russian ]

[speaking Russian ]

When there were protests,

and when material was published in the Western press

about violations of human rights,

there was indignation.

The KGB reaction was,

"Those wicked people have penetrated our defenses

and published information in the West.

Punish them!"

Free Sharanksy now!

Free Sharansky now!

NARRATION: The Sharansky trial triggered forceful protests

in the West.

The fate of political prisoners

became a key issue in American politics.

MAN: The trials which began yesterday in the Soviet Union

have serious implications

for the future relations between the United States

and the USSR.

NARRATION: The United States Congress

and the Helsinki Watch Committees

monitored Soviet behavior.

[speaking Russian ]

INTERPRETER: But I'm not at all a specialist

in regards to military matters.

But I do not trust the Soviet government.

NARRATION: The evidence of human rights abuse

inflamed anti-Soviet feeling in America.

NARRATION: Moscow and Washington were clashing

over human rights.

They were updating their arsenals.

Yet they stepped up negotiations

for a new arms limitation treaty --

SALT ll.

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union was deploying

its new medium range nuclear missiles --

the 88-208.

They were targeted on Western Europe.

[speaking Russian ]

The decision to deploy the SS-ZOs

was made in total secrecy.

Even our intelligence didn't know about it.

The military industrial complex was out of control,

including the army.

We in intelligence learned about it

from western sources.

NARRATION: The 88-20 missiles alarmed the NATO allies,

particularly the West Germans.

With a range of 3,000 miles,

these missiles could hit their capitals.

[speaking Russian ]

No one had any plan to attack Europe

using SS-20s.

At first they were just a replacement

of old obsolete rockets.

Then the conveyor belt started working,

and it went on and on.

It was difficult to stop the production line.

NARRATION: Yet, the new Soviet missiles were not on the agenda

of the SALT ll negotiations.

[Speaking German ]

In my view,

it was dangerous that the Americans refused

for such a long time,

to include the Soviet SS-20s

in the ongoing arms reduction talks.

I remember being somewhat startled

when Chancellor Schmidt started making a big issue

out of the SS-ZOs,

but then I came to realize that in a sense he was right --

namely that the 88-20,

while perhaps not a decisive military weapon,

posed the risk of decoupling Europe security

from America's.

Namely, of posing before us the dilemma

that maybe Europe was threatened

by nuclear devastation,

but we were not.

And therefore should we risk

the devastation of our own people in our own cities

in order to protect Europe?

We had all sorts of counters in Europe,

we ourselves had thousands of nuclear weapons in Europe --

cruise missiles, tactical aircraft.

We could have responded at any level.

But it was almost impossible

to make that case successfully

because everyone was so nervous

about being accused of not being tough enough

on the Soviet Union.

NARRATION: The West adopted a twin track policy.

America would develop its new generation of rockets,

and allow Moscow three years to negotiate limits

on medium range missiles.

If no agreement was reached,

nuclear-tipped American Cruise and Pershing weapons

would be stationed in Europe

and targeted on Soviet cities.

America's handling of the negotiations

troubled the German Chancellor.

[Schmidt speaking German]

INTERPRETER: They still didn't push the Soviets strongly enough

on the issue of a mutual withdrawal

of medium range missiles.

I remember the Soviet Prime Minister Kosygin

with undisguised triumph said,

"The Americans aren't mentioning

the SS-20s at all.

So you're completely isolated."

[ Loudspeaker announcement in Russian ]

NARRATION: NATO's promise to deploy these weapons

was divisive.

[chanting in Russian]

In Western Europe, fear of the missiles

created a new mood of resistance

to the arms race.

[Speaking German ]

What was always dangerous

was that Germany would become

the nuclear battlefield.

That made the people very upset and angry.

It was now crystal clear

that military armament did not bring security.

It actually undermined our society's safety.

NARRATION: The peace movement gained increasing influence

in German politics.

The superpowers had agreed

new limits on strategic arms in June 1979,

completing the SALT ll treaty.

Carter met Brezhnev for the first time

when they both came to Vienna to sign the treaty.

But Carter's plans for detailed talks

with Brezhnev fell through.

[ Dobrynin speaking Russian ]

He was physically and intellectually deteriorating.

Carter hoped that he would be able to speak without papers

on a wide range of international issues.

But Brezhnev was in no condition to do that.

His abilities were limited by his meager knowledge,

and by his poor state of health.

CARTER: When I proposed that we make these changes

in nuclear weaponry, he said,

"God will never forgive us

if we don't succeed."

And, you know, coming from a leader

of an atheistic, communist country,

this surprised everyone.

I think the most surprised person and the table

was Gromyko, who looked up at the sky like this

and did his hands in a peculiar way

as though this was a shocking thing for Brezhnev to say.

[ Detinov speaking Russian ]

The SALT ll agreement made it possible

to limit the arms race.

This was very important to the Soviet Union.

Because at that time,

our expenditure on all weapons

had begun to have a negative effect.

It was affecting the growth of production.

It was affecting the living standards

of the population.

Essentially, that agreement was

what was agreed to in Vladivostok.

We had done some things to it,

I think to improve it, clarify.

But in terms of cuts,

they were more or less what had been agreed to

three years before.

And in terms of limits

on the developments of new weapons systems,

there were none.

So, we had labored for almost seven years

and produced an arms control mouse.

[ Dobrynin speaking Russian ]

INTERPRETER: So the treaty was signed.

Marshal Ustinov asked Gromyko,

"Are they going to kiss each other?"

Because Brezhnev liked to kiss.

Gromyko said, "I don't know. We'll see."

Ustinov said, "No, they aren't."

Gromyko said, "|'m not sure."

Brezhnev began to kiss Carter.

And Carter was forced to kiss Brezhnev,

for which the American media gave him a telling off.

NARRATION: The treaty was condemned by the American Right.

SALT ii is not strategic arms limitation.

It is a strategic arms build-up

with the Soviet Union authorized to add

a minimum of 3,000 nuclear warheads

to their already massive inventory.

The Carter Administration's principal argument

for ratifying SALT ll

was that no one will like us if we don't.

You know, isn't it time that we made him understand

we don't really care whether they like us or not,

we wanna be respected.

[ Applause ]

The Soviets never really gained

military superiority over us.

It was just part of the psychodrama in America

to use that issue

to galvanize Americans

about this larger legitimate question

of the strategic competition

between our two countries

and two philosophies.

NARRATION: Carter increasingly was charged

with being soft on the Soviets.

His critics pointed to Soviet expansionism

in Angola and the Horn of Africa.

They warned that America's oil supplies were threatened.

They feared that America's vital interests

were under attack.

Then the Shah of Iran was overthrown.

Oil-rich Iran had been an American client state.

Now Islamic fundamentalists took over.

They were led by the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini.

Denouncing the United States as the great Satan,

he returned to Teheran in triumph.

A siege of the American Embassy ended

with all diplomats taken hostage.

A failed rescue attempt

sealed America's humiliation.

The crisis in Iran

heightened our sense of vulnerability

in so far as that part of the world is concerned.

After all Iran was one of the two pillars

on which both stability

and our political pre-eminence

in the Persian Gulf rested.

Let's go, dude.

Right behind here.

NARRATION: In the United States,

oil shortages, after the loss of Iran,

led to long lines at the pumps.

Ha, I've been here for four hours.

It's just too much.

NARRATION: The economy was slowing down.

The blame fell on President Carter,

and further damaged his prestige.

Then the Soviets struck in Afghanistan.

This invasion is

an extremely serious threat to peace

because of the threat of further Soviet expansion

into neighboring countries in South-West Asia,

and also because such an aggressive military policy

is unsettling to other people

throughout the world.

This is a callous violation of international law.

NARRATION: Carter saw the invasion

as part of a wider Soviet plan.

[speaking Russian ]

Unfortunately there was no strategic plan at all.

Events were developing chaotically.

In Angola and Ethiopia,

as well as in Afghanistan,

Soviet policy became the hostage

of unfolding events.

NARRATION: The invasion of Afghanistan ended détente.

President Carter gave up hopes of congressional approval

to the SALT ll treaty.

He organized punitive international sanctions

against the Soviet Union.

Carter called for a boycott

of the 1980 Moscow Olympic games.

America stayed away.

As a gesture, the boycott was futile.

It proved unpopular at home,

and the games went ahead anyhow.

[ Applause ]

[ Cheering ]

NARRATION: In Poland, the Russians faced a fresh challenge.

The new Pope, Karol Wojtyla,

visited his homeland.

He called on his flock to recapture control

of their destiny.

[woman speaking Polish]

INTERPRETER: It broke down the barrier of fear.

We saw that

if we could stick together in solidarity,

the authorities would have less power.

NARRATION: The Polish economy was in crisis.

There were shortages everywhere.

Western loans had been squandered

and the country was burdened by foreign debt.

[ Overlapping conversations ]

When the government yet again raised food prices

in the summer of 1980,

workers at the Gdansk shipyard

staged an illegal strike.

The strikers drew up a 21-point list of demands

and refused to leave the shipyard

until they were met.

[Speaking Polish]

This fight with the Communist monster

was really impossible.

We could only fight against it

by using its own weapons,

because it pretended to be the people's system.

The only effective way

was for us to organize around bread and butter issues

and use these concerns

to gain our freedom.

We set about using truth

to conquer untruth.

NARRATION: The government decided to negotiate

with the strikers.

But first, it promised there would be no reprisals.

[Speaking Polish]

NARRATION: What began as an economic protest

became a demand for sweeping political concessions.

[chanting cheers]

The government negotiators gave way

to the workers' key demands.

[Speaking Polish]

[ Cheering ]

NARRATION: The workers were joined by intellectuals.

Together they formed a new movement --

Solidarity.

Support spread throughout Poland.

[man speaking Polish]

INTERPRETER: For the first time

they had a taste of being citizens

with civil liberties,

which you don't forget.

For someone who had lived under communism,

it was like a narcotic, or fresh air.

It was like having your identity

for the first time.

NARRATION: Solidarity was given massive coverage

in the Western media.

The United States provided crucial covert assistance.

We tried to meet their specific requests,

what they asked us for,

and those requirements were conveyed to us

through a variety of different channels.

They wanted communications equipment of various kinds --

offset printing presses, radio equipment,

things of that sort.

NARRATION: Solidarity became increasingly defiant.

[singing in Polish]

As the movement began to challenge

the Communist system,

Moscow watched with growing alarm.

[speaking Russian ]

We exerted pressure

on the Polish leadership all the time

to take more decisive measures to restore order.

NARRATION: By December 1980,

Soviet pressure on the Polish leadership was intense.

Warsaw Pact forces were amassed

around Poland's borders.

The message was obvious --

curb Solidarity,

or there is worse to come.

American concern grew.

BRZEZINSKI: The critical moment came in December of 1980

when the Soviets were poised

to intervene in Poland.

We did everything we could

to mobilize international opinion,

to galvanize maximum international pressure

on the Soviets,

to convince the Soviets that we will not be passive.

[speaking Russian ]

Our leadership, including the military,

thought that under no circumstances

should we move in the troops.

We said, "One Afghanistan is enough.

We will have to make the Polish comrades

solve the problem with their own forces."

NARRATION: The Kremlin,

bent on ending Solidarity's mutiny,

leaned forcefully on the Polish leader,

General Jaruzelski.

Soviet actions were influencing

America's 1980 Presidential elections.

Carter faced difficult odds.

The economy was slack.

Americans were still hostage in Iran.

The Russians were still in Afghanistan.

There was what he himself called

a growing spirit of malaise

in the United States,

and that malaise related, I believe,

to a popular sense

of the decline of American strength

and of Western strength,

and also of American clarity

and purpose in the world.

NARRATION: Carter's opponent was the Republican Ronald Reagan.

Thanks very much.

Now if the boat doesn't go straight

it's because they tell me I've gotta steer it

for a minute.

We have got to stop letting all of these events

catch us by surprise,

as Carter has been caught by surprise.

We have got to control events

to the place that we don't run into a crisis

that inevitably leads to war.

NARRATION: Reagan won the election by a large margin.

He had promised much tougher policies

against Moscow.

It was necessary to show that détente couldn't work

in order to go beyond it,

and to re-engage in the Cold War,

to re-establish a set of objectives

that was aimed at victory in the Cold War

rather than ending it by accommodation.

NARRATION: America's hard-line policy boosted morale in Poland.

Solidarity now had nine million members

supporting their fight for economic reform

and political rights.

Strikes gripped the country.

The Soviets were tightening the screws

on the Poles.

Brezhnev pressed Jaruzelski to plan countermeasures.

[Jaruzelski speaking Polish ]

I received a letter from Brezhnev.

This letter had the character of an ultimatum,

warning Poland

not to change its structure and policies.

If we made any changes,

we should expect military intervention.

NARRATION: On December 2, 1981

a firemerfs strike was crushed by riot police.

It was a warning to Solidarity

that the authorities were ready to use force.

On December 12,

Solidarity met to plan a nationwide strike.

That night the Polish government

sent in the army.

Solidarity's leaders were arrested.

Solidarity was banned.

President Jaruzelski declared martial law.

[Speaking Polish]

NARRATION: Martial law fractured East-West relations.

Civil rights were suspended,

mocking the Helsinki Declaration.

Moscow had re-imposed its will.

[Speaking Polish]

In 1981, I said to the gentleman

who came to arrest me,

"This is the moment of your defeat.

These are the last nails in the coffin of Communism."

NARRATION: The fires of rebellion burned on.