Interview with Henry Genrikh Aleksandrovich Trofimenko, 1987
Item Information
- Title:
- Interview with Henry Genrikh Aleksandrovich Trofimenko, 1987
- Description:
-
Soviet historian Genrikh "Henry" Aleksandrovich Trofimenko served for many years as chief analyst at the Institute for the U.S. and Canada Studies at the Russian Academy of Science. The interview Trofimenko conducted for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age: "Dawn" provides a historical overview of breakthroughs and setbacks in superpower diplomacy. After World War II, the United States wanted to impose Pax Americana, perceived peace dominated by U.S. military and economic power; the Soviet Union rejected it. Trofimenko asserts that serious talks about European security began in 1955 at the multinational conference in Geneva, but diplomats reached an impasse over the fate of a divided Germany. Diplomacy between General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev and U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower was derailed by the 1960 U-2 affair, although over time, periods of tension between the two countries these men represented have become more short-term. The next phase Trofimenko describes is detente. Early in Ronald Reagan's presidency, Trofimenko observes, diplomacy was interrupted by an acceleration of the arms race as the United States sought to regain superiority. He describes the Soviet view that the United States' decision to pursue the MX missile, the Trident submarine, and the Strategic Defense Initiative were that country's further attempt to gain military superiority. Trofimenko also explains the futility of expecting Soviet and U.S. military programs to be "mirror images." The pace, pattern, and modernization of military force structure, he points out, are governed by each nation's own strategic analysis. Once again, though, arms talks resumed and culminated in the historic Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed in December 1987. Trofimenko assesses the modern-day challenges: the Soviet Union must withdraw from Afghanistan and continue to restructure international relations on the basis of cooperation. As for the United States' duty, he sees Star Wars' potential to instigate a new arms race, but he hopes and rightly predicts that it will "peter out."
- Interviewee:
- Trofimenko, G. A. (Genrikh Aleksandrovich)
- Date:
-
December 24, 1987
- Format:
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Film/Video
- Location:
- WGBH
- Collection (local):
-
WGBH Open Vault
- Series:
- War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
- Subjects:
-
Strategic Defense Initiative
Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles
Trident (Weapons systems)
Reagan, Ronald
Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
MX (Weapons system)
Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Yalta Conference (1945)
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
Potsdam Conference (1945 : Potsdam, Germany)
Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981
World War II
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Warsaw Treaty Organization
International relations
Brezhnev, Leonid Il¿ich, 1906-1982
Nuclear arms control
Soviet Union
Geneva Conference (1954)
Nuclear weapons
Detente
Gromyko, Andrei Andreevich, 1909-1989
Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969
Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945
Andropov, Y. V. (Yuri Vladimirovich), 1914-1984
Soviet Union. Treaties, etc. United States, 1972 May 26 (ABM), 1972 May 26 (ABM)
Kissinger, Henry, 1923-
Soviet Union. Treaties, etc. United States, 1987 December 8
Schmidt, Helmut, 1918 Dec. 23-
Chernenko, K. U. (Konstantin Ustinovich), 1911-1985
Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953
- Places:
-
Russia
United States
Japan
Afghanistan
Germany
- Extent:
- 01:19:32:29
- Link to Item:
- http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_EEDDC8850A914255B2C4A9C25CB9B4A1
- Terms of Use:
-
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
- Publisher:
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WGBH Educational Foundation
- Identifier:
-
V_EEDDC8850A914255B2C4A9C25CB9B4A1