Interview with Carl Kaysen, 1986 [2]

Item Information

Title:
Interview with Carl Kaysen, 1986 [2]
Description:
Carl Kaysen was the Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs for President Kennedy. In this interview he discusses the overall nuclear strategy of the Kennedy Administration, as well as the specific views of various members of that administration including Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy, and himself. He discusses the ideas of deterrence, mutual assured destruction, damage limitation, and targeting issues. He also describes his proposal for the small first strike he worked on with Henry Rowen in response to the 1961 Berlin Crisis. He answers criticism of the preemptive plan by explaining that they never encouraged that it be put in place, but thought it would be a good idea to see what such a plan would look like. He also explains his civil defense study, ordered by President Kennedy. The study mainly focused on the idea of fallout shelters; however, the administration’s push for a new civil defense program fell out of favor when Kennedy realized the overreaction of the American people. Dr. Kaysen ends by describing the “new frontier” atmosphere of working with the Kennedy administration, full of bright people and facing serious new issues.
Interviewee:
Kaysen, Carl
Date:
March 20, 1986
Format:
Film/Video
Location:
WGBH
Collection (local):
WGBH Open Vault
Series:
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
Subjects:
Berlin (Germany)
Hitch, Charles Johnston
Nuclear warfare
United States. Air Force
Nuclear arms control
United States. Dept. of Defense
United States. Joint Chiefs of Staff
Soviet Union
Yarmolinsky, Adam
World War II
Sorensen, Theodore C.
Rowen, Henry S.
National Security Council (U.S.)
Nuclear weapons
Single Integrated Operational Plan
Raskin, Marcus G.
Fallout shelters
Gates, Thomas S.
Bundy, McGeorge
Civil defense
Wigner, Eugene Paul, 1902-1995
Enthoven, Alain C., 1930-
Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971
Thomas, Albert, 1898-1966
McNamara, Robert S., 1916-2009
Brown, Harold, 1927-
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963
Teller, Edward, 1908-2003
Bell, David E., 1919-
Schelling, Thomas C., 1921-
Staats, Elmer B., 1914-2011
Wiesner, Jerome B. (Jerome Bert), 1915-1994
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969
McNaughton, John T. (John Theodore), 1921-
Kennedy, Robert F., 1925-1968
United States. Congress
Places:
United States
Germany
Extent:
00:58:41:19
Link to Item:
https://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_926B527E1B30430D94B824360F9C6168
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Publisher:
WGBH Educational Foundation
Identifier:
V_926B527E1B30430D94B824360F9C6168