Marcus Raskin served as McGeorge Bundy's assistant on national security affairs and disarmament on the National Security Council staff from 1961-1962. In the interview he discusses U.S. nuclear strategy and disarmament. He explains the White House response to the first-strike proposal created during the Berlin Crisis of 1961. He is repulsed by the idea a first strike, which he considers illegal and immoral, and compares it to the Holocaust. He also describes the buildup of U.S. nuclear capabilities under Secretary of Defense McNamara. He contends that trying to control the arms race, without nuclear disarmament, is impossible because neither side will be totally satisfied that they have a stable deterrent against the other's nuclear forces. In addition, he argues against the conventional forces buildup, which he thinks will only encourage the U.S. to get into more conflicts like the Vietnam War, which could eventually evolve into nuclear engagements. He also discusses the idea of a U.S.-Soviet negotiated disengagement from Eastern and Western Europe.
![Interview with Carl Kaysen, 1986 [2]](https://bpldcassets.blob.core.windows.net/derivatives/metadata/commonwealth-oai:8g84pj93c/image_thumbnail_300.jpg)
![War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Carl Kaysen, 1986 [2]](https://bpldcassets.blob.core.windows.net/derivatives/metadata/commonwealth-oai:1544g587n/image_thumbnail_300.jpg)
![Interview with Carl Kaysen, 1986 [1]](https://bpldcassets.blob.core.windows.net/derivatives/metadata/commonwealth-oai:zg64wh62p/image_thumbnail_300.jpg)