the soviet union could not afford to build new ones. the solution was to put short range and medium range missiles right in our backyard. the whole world literally was watching to see what president john kennedy would do. >> had kennedy done what the joint chiefs of staff wanted to do which was to invade, that there would have immediately been a nuclear war and it would have started on so called tactical level. at that point in the fall of 1962 them -- then certainly would have spread to all right out nuclear war. >> reporter: president kennedy went on television to announce to the world that america was holding the soviet union on whatever might happen in cuba. >> within the past week unmistakable evidence has accomplished the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that prisoned island. the purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the western hemisphere. each of these missiles are capable of striking cape canaveral, mexico city or any other city in the

the soviet union. that is quite different than meeting with the president of the united states. the soviets say, we will have a meeting when there has been progress. yet they left those talks. i would like to correct my opponent on the walk in the woods. it was the soviet union that was unwilling to discuss the what in the woods. representative ferraro mentioned the inflexibility on -- of our position on strategic arms. we tried to reduce the ss-18's and those weapons. there is flexibility. that is an important point in terms of negotiations. >> congresswoman, he that taketh away, must give back. you will have the to menace our a rebuttal. but you rob me of my follow-up. -- > >> you rob me of my follow-up. >> representative ferraro, how can you convince the american public that the world will be a safer place under ferraro- mondale. ? >> what you can do is look at what we have done and recognize they will not do much in the future. since they have done nothing, do we continue to build? and arms race do

ballistic missiles in turkey targeted may just soviet cities the soviet union retaliated the stationing their own missiles in cuba about time the world found itself one step away from the stance of global nuclear war. the way of life in this small village never changes that's why the appearance of any newcomer in south is a big event. when the first soviet specialists came to the village in august one thousand nine hundred sixty two the locals were told to keep their mouths shut. a large plot of land in the village outskirts was fenced off with barbed wire what went on inside that enclosure was kept secret for a long time today and old bunker is in ruins the residents have found a use for everything they could take from those ruins. here for example you see all these places all these are now in grown were set up all the by russian i'm. not even came here now you can see this now you can game and look at this so we are in a place where part of the wall was the border of that there was. his family has been cattle breeders for decades omar lopez largo has a big farm by local standards in a

union, and it wasn't me that turned it down, the soviet union disavowed it. >> mr. mondale, your rebuttal? >> there are two distinguished authors on arms control in this country-there are many others, but two that i want to cite tonight. one is strobe talbott in his classic book, "deadly gambits." the other is john neuhaus, who's one of the most distinguished arms control specialists in our country. both said that this administration turned down the "walk in the woods" agreement first, and that would have been a perfect agreement from the standpoint of the united states in europe and our security. when mr. nitze, a good negotiator, returned, he was rebuked, and his boss was fired. this is the kind of leadership that we've had in this administration on the most deadly issue of our times. now we have a runaway arms race. all they've got to show for 4 years in u.s.soviet relations is one meeting in the last weeks of an administration, and nothing before. they're tough negotiators, but all previous presidents have made progress. this one has not. >> ms. geyer, your ques

in the end they all posed for pictures against the background of an r twelve missile the soviet union delivered a total of forty two of these missiles to cuba they were able to reach the us territory in six minutes after launch. world war there were. in order to transport my regiment to the port but they were able we needed eleven seventy carriage trains. with a lifting capacity of sixty tons each with the woman who was. a secret operation to transfer soviet troops a cubit was code named and there after a town in the north of the soviet union most of the forty thousand troops that took part in that operation was sure that they were going to the north. in september nine hundred sixty two field nurses and i needed on sky i found herself on board one of these ships a voyage lasted eighteen days and that's the idea we were aware in passing dresses sticks old shoes and ordinary stockings our men the saw that soldiers and officers were dressed in financial group shuras with small pattern for soldiers and big one for officers who knew. all the ships that arrived from the soviet union in one

ballistic missiles in turkey targeted mages soviet cities the soviet union retaliated the stationing their own missiles in cuba about time the world found itself one step away from the start of global nuclear war. the way of life in this small village never changes that's why the appearance of any newcomer is outskirts is a big event. when the first soviet specialists came to the village in august one thousand nine hundred sixty two the locals were told to keep their mouths shut. a large plot of land in the village outskirts was fenced off with barbed wire what went on inside that enclosure was kept secret for a long time today an old bunker is in. they can take from. all all these . his family has been cattle breeders for decades omar lopez largo has a big farm by local standards in autumn nine hundred sixty two cuban military men knocked on his doorstep among them was a young officer william racket almight hello or more hello friend. how are you my friend i haven't seen you for ages. where you haven't dropped in for a long time it's been so long since we saw each other how's it goi

cannon had been kicked out of the soviet union by stalin in 1952, is invited to come to the soviet embassy to meet gorbachev and corporate of immediately recognized him, embraced him and pays him an extraordinarily handsome tribute which kennan always remembered. it was something like this. mr. kennan, we in our country and its stand that someone can be a patriots in another country but at the same time be a great friend of our country and that is how we regard you. just the right thing to have said. whereupon there was a very long gorbachev speech. george sat down at a table with a lot of other luminaries. he was seated next to his strange looking woman who had purple long fingernails and was smoking a cigarette, chain-smoking. goerge's hearing was beginning to go. this was 1987 but someone told him he is the widow of lenin. how could she be the widow of lenin and he came home puzzled by this and asked his secretary and they say you have not met yoko ono. [laughter] >> you mentioned the key to kennan's analysis and effort was the russian national character eventually given time would over

the soviet union. that is quite different than meeting with the president of the united states. the soviets say, we will have a meeting when there has been progress. yet they left those talks. i would like to correct my opponent on the walk in the woods. it was the soviet union that was unwilling to discuss the what in the woods. representative ferraro mentioned the inflexibility on -- of our position on strategic arms. we tried to reduce the ss-18's and those weapons. there is flexibility. that is an important point in terms of negotiations. >> congresswoman, he that taketh away, must give back. you will have the to menace our a rebuttal. but you rob me of my follow-up. -- > >> you rob me of my follow-up. >> representative ferraro, how can you convince the american public that the world will be a safer place under ferraro- mondale. ? >> what you can do is look at what we have done and recognize they will not do much in the future. since they have done nothing, do we continue to build? and arms race do

that is why we could never have a normal relationship with the soviet union. >> host: "george f. kennan: an american life," pulitzer prize winner for 2012 biography. next call kenneth in san diego, calif.. >> caller: i would like to ask whether -- sinking fast and slow -- strategies thinking. >> guest: the answer is yes. i am thinking about that right now. that book came out after i finished writing my book. one of the things that i teach at yale is strategy and so we deal all the time with the question of whether it is better to have one big idea to be a hedgehog, or to be a fox. to have a bunch of adaptable flexible ideas. i think one of the answers to that is it is important to be both but it is important to know when to the witch and thinking fast and slow, offers some basis for thinking about that because thinking slow is having a grand plan that you keep coming back to. a sense of direction in whatever you are doing. thinking fast is adapting to the unexpected things that happen to you along the way. i do think it has relevance but it is not something i was able to bring in

it's an attack by the soviet union on the united states requiring a jury response upon the soviet union under kennedy's direction the us imposed a naval blockade on shipments of armaments from the soviet union to cuba and open diplomatic play of the us pledge to not invade cuba if the soviet union withdrew its missiles from their territory and as an added secret deal the us promised withdraw its missiles from turkey and italy the last minute khrushchev accepted the deal and the crisis was narrowly averted this resulted in the creation of a nuclear hotline between the u.s. and the soviet union and laid the groundwork for what later became the nuclear nonproliferation treaty the objective of which is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and technology in hopes to one day have complete global disarmament despite the u.s. and russia signing on to this treaty almost fifty years ago are we really any safer now than we were back then take a look at this graphic they're currently nine nations that have operational nuclear warheads the five permanent members of the u.n. security council the

union on the united states, requiring a full retaliatory response on the soviet union. >> reporter: the cia scrambled for fresh intelligence. analysts prepared psychiatric profiles of khrushchev and fidel castro. castro is not crazy, but he is highly neurotic. they studied secret documents, spy photos, and diagrams of potential impact zones from miami to st. louis to washington. and the president prepared a grim address to the nation. this morning, kennedy wrote "i reluctantly ordered the armed forces to attack and destroy the nuclear buildup in cuba." kennedy never had to deliver that speech. as artifacts reveal, kennedy and khrushchev exchanged a flurry of private messages searching for a way out. three days before the standoff ended, khrushchev wrote perhaps let us display statesman like wisdom. perhaps most interesting are notes from a white house meeting. missile ships encountered the u.s. blockade and turned around. on his legal pad, president kennedy twice squalled and circled the world "euphoria", cautioning his advisers not to be overly optimistic. but those words reflected

after the collapse of the soviet union to be able became a chief of south of sixty eight intelligence during the georgia south acetic conflict in the ninety's of the major general played a key role in the internationally mediated peacemaking efforts last april that i need to be. president among his stall priority is a recognition of south of the world. countries rebuilding. elyssa to believe welcome to the show. hello yes let's start with the visit to moscow. this is your first official visit here. by president putin invited to discuss i quote russia's assistance so the cd is social and economic development. that's the purpose of your visit. so what is this is distance finance we talking about financial aid. there is a new department now established within the president's executive office you mean the russian president yes there is a special department for social and economic deals exclusively with south a city but sorry just to clarify it doesn't deal only with us to see hear or see as well. it works with both a policy in south a city after meeting with you said moscow would continue

union -- former soviet union for 13 years. i'm going to do it in four years. and we're going to keep it out of the hands of terrorists. >> ninety-second response, mr. president. >> i don't think we want to get to how he's going to pay for all these promises. it's like a huge tax gap. anyway, that's for another debate. my administration has tripled the amount of money we're spending on homeland security to $30 billion a year. my administration worked with the congress to create the department of homeland security so we could better coordinate our borders and ports. we've got 1,000 extra border patrol on the southern border, want 1,000 on the northern border. we're modernizing our borders. we spent $3. 1 billion for fire and police, $3. 1 billion. we're doing our duty to provide the funding. but the best way to protect this homeland is to stay on the offense. you know, we have to be right 100 percent of the time. and the enemy only has to be right once to hurt us. there's a lot of good people working hard. and by the way, we've

of the soviet union if it was cut off from any financial support for two decades curious interested i think it could be even more appealing for russia's treaties to keep its presence on spitsbergen russia still maintaining a coal mine here but in terms of profit is far behind local souvenir shops so between. bill it is a big hit the defunct arne curtain still helps keep the money flowing. it's the russians doing your show but you can explain rumbles they're also. the local administration is increasingly under pressure to bring the infrastructure up to more than standards these modernization efforts are not very popular with tourist operators if you come into a very authentic place like non-sport should stay the way it is that would be my wish i mean that's the part of the a little you know authentic tradition. i should not i would not like to have it in a shiny condition to be on those they tend to change even for the better is not always good for business something that even a local band has become attuned to when they try to add the morning russian songs to the repertoire the audien

we know now the soviet union delivered not only strategic missiles to cuba, medium-range missiles to cuba, but also over 100 tactical nuclear weapons. and these weapons were not covered by the agreements between kennedy and khrushchev. >> the agreement between washington and moscow came after the most critical day of the crisis, known as black saturday. >> black saturday, october 27, was the peak of the crisis. both kennedy and khrushchev felled the situation -- felt the situation was slipping out of control and they had to do something to end the crisis. one that -- one u2 was shot down. in the caribbean, the u.s. was trying to bring out soviet submarines. what they did not know was the submarines were armed with nuclear weapons. on cuba itself, the soviets were moving warheads to the missile site and targeting the u.s. naval base on guantanamo bay. >> under the agreement of october 28, the soviets agreed to remove their medium and intermediate-range missiles from the base in cuba. americans insisted on strict monitoring verification from the air to ensure they kept on schedule. in

and the soviet soviet union such tht neither would surprise the other by a wreckless venture within the other's zone of core interests. >> host: we'll have to leave it there. >> guest: that's what happened, yep. >> host: perfect conclusion. thank you so much. we'll have to leave it there because we're out of time up fortunately. thank you so much for joining us. graham lar the director of the bell center for science and international affairs talking about the 50th anniversary of the cuban missile crisis. thank you, sir. >> guest: thank you for having me. >>> up next on c-span2, retired justice, john paul stevens, discuss the second amendment and gun laws, and the oral argument with the university of texas, a case challenges affirmative action policies in college admissions p. later, his tore yaps, journalists, and filmmakers mark the 50th anniversary of the cuban missile crisis. >> i watch c-span because when i want to get the news without a lot of talk and pundits adding their point of view, i can get the original script from a person, and then i can come to my own conclusions which i

there was a burgeoning mining community the soviet union was determined to maintain its own costs. are located halfway between north america and western europe in archipelago is part of norway with a special status that allows other countries to set up industrial bases here in the middle of the cold war it served as the use of czars westernmost outpost now it's one of the soviet union slask preserved relics. picture of the soviet union if it was cut off from any financial support for two decades it's a curious interest and i think it could be even more appealing for russians trying to use to keep its presence on spitsbergen russia still maintaining a coal mine here but in terms of profit is for. behind local server near shops so between mary bell it is a big hit the defunct aren't curtain still helps keep the money flowing guys it's the russians doing your show but you can't play rubbles only grown ups enough to grow your local administration is increasingly under pressure to bring the infrastructure up to more than standards if these modernization efforts i'm not very popular with

in one case, a war head explodes from the soviet union. in the other case, a war head explodes from cuba. the same thing with the submarines. that is a big issue and question. are you going to risk war up to and including nuclear war over something that similar to something you have already been living with? that is one thing they struggled with the hardest. kennedy's analysis was ultimately correct as we learn more about it. his analysis was khrushchev intended to try to resolve the earlier disputes left over from world war ii in november. khrushchev communicated to him in a letter that in november after the election, we will resolve the berlin issue. berlin was this enclave in the middle of soviet occupied east germany. the soviets could close off. win at any point. they would have to fight their way in using nuclear weapons. maybe you could say we should not go to war over berlin either. how credible was the he would go to war over berlin risk in boston or washington?

union on the united states requiring a full retaliatory response upon the soviet union. >> reporter: the c.i.a. scrambled for fresh intelligence. analysts prepared psychiatric profiles of nikita kruschev and cuban dictator fidel castro if i had. "castro is not crazy" one analysis concluded. "but he is highly neurotic and unstable." kennedy and his cabinet studied diagrams of potential impact zones from miami to st. louis to washington and the president prepared a grim address to the nation. this morning, kennedy wrote, a reluctantly ordered the armed forces to attack and destroy the nuclear buildup in cuba. kennedy never had to deliver that speech. as artifacts commemorating the 50th anniversary of the crisis reveal, kennedy and kruschev exchanged a flurry of private messages searching for a way out. three days before the standoff ended, kruschev wrote kennedy "let us therefore display statesmanlike wisdom." perhaps most interesting are notes from a white house meeting the day 14 soviet ships, believed to be carrying missile parts, encountered the u.s. blockade and turned around. on

his highest level position in government of the as ambassador to the soviet union and to

it is essentially a picture of what would have happened to the soviet union if it was cut off from any financial support for two decades it's a curious site for western tourists and i think it could be even more appealing for russian travelers to keep its presence on spitsbergen russia still maintaining a coal mine here but in terms of profit is far behind local shops. is a big hit the defunct are incurred still helps keep the money flowing guys it's the rest of the year. you can play in. your local administration is increasingly under pressure to bring the infrastructure up to more than standards these modernization efforts and not very popular with tourists if you come into a very authentic place like bond it should stay the way it is that would be my wish i mean that's the part of the let you know authentic tradition here. i should not i would not like to have it in a shiny condition to be honest this time to change even for the better is not always good for business something that even a local band has become attuned to when they try to add the morning russian songs to die repertoi

daryn's work was a burgeoning mining community that the soviet union was determined to maintain at all costs are located halfway between north america and western europe the spitzbergen archipelago is part of norway but a special status that allows other countries to set up industrial bases here in the middle of the cold war it served as the us is sars western most outpost now it's one of the soviet union's last preserved relics. it is essentially a picture of what would have happened. the soviet union if it was cut off from any financial support for two decades is a curious site for western tourists and i think it could be even more appealing for russian travel as the local administration is increasingly under pressure to bring the infrastructure up to more than standards if these modernization efforts and not very popular with tourists if you come into a very authentic place like farm sport should stay the way it is that would be my wish i mean that's the part also the a little you know authentic traditionally up there. i should not i would not like to have it in a shiny condition to

union to come over the afghan border eventually soviet union did occupy a large portion of afghanistan as a result of that but that was a guerrilla warfare a western backed affair that was used to draw in the soviet union so in this case the free syrian army and the us backed al-qaeda terrorist groups that are funded by great britain and united states are allowed to have bases now in turkey so of course you have to look between the lines if syrian troops are firing across the border there is definitely good reason syria has no interest in starting a war with turkey has any common sense person or commentator would look at it but in the case of being baited into protecting their own interests turkey's hate providing a safe haven for terrorists western backed terrorists so this looks like a set up in order to draw turkey into a conflict and also to further isolate syria as it is a nation state so do you believe that that's the reason assad wants to stoke tension with his neighbor when there are plenty of rebel attacks and tara blast at home to deal with. well it does certainly the syrian