Interview with Barney Frank, 1987

Item Information

Title:
Interview with Barney Frank, 1987
Description:
Barney Frank was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts from 1981-2013. In the interview he discusses the development of the MX Missile system. He says that he thinks the Reagan Administration’s strategic plan was only a plan of more – “more on land, more on sea, more in the air,” which he does not consider to have been a solid plan. He also criticizes the Scowcroft Commission (and commissions in general) because they “fuzz up” major issues, adding that the Scowcroft report implied that the U.S. did not need to make a massive expenditure on a new land-based missile, but refused to say it outright for fear of directly contradicting the president. He counters multiple arguments for the development of the MX Missile system, including as a bargaining chip in arms control talks and to show national resolve. He is especially adamant that at a time of nuclear parity, when there is already a very strong air and sea component to nuclear defense, spending billions on a land-based system with no guarantee of producing the results promised, is a “dubious” concept considering the many other societal problems the money could go towards. Among other comments about the political dynamics surrounding military issues, he notes how difficult it is to “say no” to the president when he proposes a major weapons system. He adds that the Reagan administration’s expansion of the U.S. strategic arsenal has done nothing to make the Soviets back down on any issue. (Asked whether it brought the Soviets to negotiate the INF Treaty, he says that Moscow came to terms because Gorbachev understood better the costs to the Soviet system of continually building its military power.) He goes on to describe an amendment he proposed to cut all spending on the MX system, which almost made it through the House before Reagan’s team took back some of the swing votes. He ends the interview hopeful that with a new round of budget cuts approaching, the MX and Midgetman missile programs will be cut.
Interviewee:
Frank, Barney, 1940-
Date:
December 12, 1987
Format:
Film/Video
Location:
WGBH
Collection (local):
WGBH Open Vault
Series:
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
Subjects:
Gorbachev, Mikhail
Weinberger, Caspar W.
Cruise missiles
Intercontinental ballistic missiles
Aspin, Les
Trident (Weapons systems)
Warsaw Treaty Organization
United States. President’s Commission on Strategic Forces
United States. Congress. House
Nuclear weapons
Midgetman Missile
MX (Weapons system)
Closely-spaced basing (Nuclear basing mode)
Nuclear arms control
Reagan, Ronald
Dicks, Norman D.
Soviet Union
Woolsey, R. James, 1941-
Soviet Union. Treaties, etc. United States, 1987 December 8
Turner, Stansfield, 1923-
United States. Congress
Places:
United States
Extent:
00:34:41:15
Link to Item:
http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_3CE20295B0244C6C98943D18945D7F39
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Publisher:
WGBH Educational Foundation
Identifier:
V_3CE20295B0244C6C98943D18945D7F39