Interview with Richard Burt, 1987

Item Information

Title:
Interview with Richard Burt, 1987
Description:
Richard Burt was the State Department's Director of Politico-Military Affairs from 1981-1982, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs from 1983-1985, Ambassador to Germany from 1985-1989, and a chief negotiator for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. In the interview he discusses Soviet-American arms control negotiations over nuclear weapons in Europe. He describes the double track decision, the zero option, and the double zero option, including Reagan administration attitudes toward them. He explains that the administration's approach to arms control is closely tied to its defense policy, namely that without a strong defense policy a strong arms control outcome is not possible. He describes the polarized European response to the deployment of Pershing missiles in Germany, and the reaction to bilateral Soviet-American negotiations, including at Reykjavik. In his view, the Soviets were unlikely to negotiate seriously until they saw evidence that the West was prepared to deploy the missiles. The Soviet walkout at Geneva in 1983 was, in his words, "an incredibly stupid thing to do." Moscow's attempt to link INF questions to other talks was "unfortunate." He discusses the idea of decoupling German national security from that of the United States. He gives his views on flexible response strategy. He also describes the recent changes in Soviet policy from Brezhnev to Gorbachev as primarily occurring in the field of public diplomacy.
Interviewee:
Burt, Richard
Date:
October 20, 1987
Format:
Film/Video
Location:
WGBH
Collection (local):
WGBH Open Vault
Series:
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
Subjects:
Gorbachev, Mikhail
Nuclear weapons
Antinuclear movement
Summit meetings--Iceland--Reykjavik
Nitze, Paul H.
Peace movements
International relations
Flexible response (Nuclear strategy)
Thatcher, Margaret
Demonstrations
Strategic Defense Initiative
Pershing (Missile)
SS-20 Missile
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Nuclear disarmament
Intermediate-range ballistic missiles
Brezhnev, Leonid Il?ich, 1906-1982
Nuclear arms control
United States. Dept. of State
Neutron bomb
Soviet Union
United States. Dept. of Defense
Reagan, Ronald
Mitterrand, Francois, 1916-1996
Shultz, George Pratt, 1920-
Shevardnadze, Eduard Amvrosievich, 1928-
Carter, Jimmy, 1924-
Bush, George, 1924-
Gromyko, Andrei Andreevich, 1909-1989
Kohl, Helmut, 1930-
Schmidt, Helmut, 1918 Dec. 23-
Places:
Germany > North Rhine-Westphalia > Bonn
United States
France
Netherlands
Extent:
00:42:11:01
Link to Item:
http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_3CC9B2D1132F4D9BA11521F3DF59DCF6
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Publisher:
WGBH Educational Foundation
Identifier:
V_3CC9B2D1132F4D9BA11521F3DF59DCF6