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War and Peace in the Nuclear Age (1986-03-07)
About this film
Roswell Gilpatric was the Deputy Secretary of Defense 1961-1964. In this interview, he recalls the Hot Springs, or Missile Gap, speech he delivered in Europe on October 21, 1961, a speech with two purposes: to convince the Soviet Union that the United States was ready to take on the threat in Berlin, and to persuade its NATO allies to accept the flexible response doctrine. He describes Secretary of Defense McNamara's difficult relationship with the Air Force over such contentious issues as the latter's request for funding for a large Minuteman missile system. He points to this and other examples of the difficulties created by inter-service rivalries. A painful moment he recalls is of being treated as a turncoat for siding with McNamara despite having previously served as Secretary of the Air Force.
Directors & creators
WGBH
Subjects
public broadcasting, AAPB, Roswell Gilpatric, Robert S. McNamara, John F. Kennedy, McGeorge Bundy, Adam Yarmolinsky, Dean Rusk, Harold Watkinson, Giulio Andreotti, Franz Josef Strauss, Curtis LeMay, Thomas D. White, Thomas S. Power, Arthur Goldberg, United States Department of Defense, United States Air Force, United States Navy, NATO, Berlin Crisis, Cold War, Minuteman missile, Flexible response doctrine, Missile Gap, Strategic nuclear weapons, TFX aircraft controversy, Inter-service rivalry, Nuclear triad
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