Interview with Helmut Schmidt, 1987

Item Information

Title:
Interview with Helmut Schmidt, 1987
Description:
Helmut Schmidt became the head of Germany’s Social Democratic Party in 1967 and deputy chairman of the party in 1968. Between 1969 and 1972, he served as defense minister, minister for economics and finance, and minister of finance. From 1974 to 1982, he was the chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. In the interview he conducted for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age, Schmidt recalls his anger and the political damage he suffered in 1978 when President Carter suddenly delayed his decision to produce the neutron bomb. He analyzes why the Soviet-U.S. relations deteriorated as the 1970s wore on, goes over Carter successor Ronald Reagan’s initial receptivity to a “zero-zero” option, relays the subsequent internal dissension and ascendancy of hardliners within the Reagan administration, and sheds light on the shift within the administration toward arms reductions. Schmidt describes what he terms “Euro-strategic” SS-20 missiles, which the Soviet Union began deploying along its western and southeastern borders in 1977. He viewed this deployment as destabilizing the nuclear balance in Europe, and he vigorously—but unsuccessfully—pressed President Jimmy Carter to include these missiles in the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) II negotiations. He recounts his conviction that the threat of deploying U.S. Pershing II and cruise missiles in response to the threat of the Soviet SS-20s brought the Soviet Union to the negotiating table. The Guadeloupe meeting that Schmidt helped organize produced the “double-track decision” that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) council adopted at the end of 1979: to deploy the U.S. intermediate-range missiles while simultaneously bargaining them away in Geneva. Unlike some of his counterparts, Schmidt never feared the “de-coupling” of the U.S. strategic deterrent from the defense of NATO Europe. He remained, though, keenly sensitive to the concentration of nuclear weapons deployed by other countries in the Federal Republic. In his interview, Schmidt explains the need for European collaboration in building up conventional forces to achieve both nuclear and non-nuclear parity between the Warsaw and NATO blocs.
Interviewee:
Schmidt, Helmut, 1918 Dec. 23-
Date:
November 12, 1987
Format:
Film/Video
Location:
WGBH
Collection (local):
WGBH Open Vault
Series:
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
Subjects:
Soviet Union
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Nitze, Paul H.
Weinberger, Caspar W.
World War II
Nuclear arms control
Middle East
Brezhnev, Leonid Il'ich, 1906-1982
Nuclear warfare
Intermediate-range ballistic missiles
International relations
Pershing (Missile)
Neutron bomb
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks II
Warfare, Conventional
Reagan, Ronald
SS-20 Missile
Warsaw Treaty Organization
Nuclear weapons
Cruise missiles
Carter, Jimmy, 1924-
Ford, Gerald R., 1913-2006
Gaulle, Charles de, 1890-1970
Shultz, George Pratt, 1920-
Callaghan, James, 1912-2005
Places:
Afghanistan
Germany
United States
China
Extent:
00:46:56:12
Link to Item:
http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_55D8B7AC02BD4D7CA6D1E705F68A0604
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Publisher:
WGBH Educational Foundation
Identifier:
V_55D8B7AC02BD4D7CA6D1E705F68A0604