SECRETS OF WAR

EPISODE 19

THE STRANGELOVE FACTOR.

TEASE

It was the biggest bomb in the history of the mankind. When it exploded the 50 megaton blast shattered windows fifteen hundred kilometers away. The whole world shook. It was designed for one purpose, to end the world. The Strangelove Factor, nuclear madness and the Cold War, next on… Secrets of War.

SECRETS OF WAR OPENING

October 31,1961. Novaya Zemlya - an island in the Soviet arctic. A top secret nuclear test ground twenty-five hundred miles from the United States.

THE MAP

A TU- 95 Soviet strategic bomber carried a new means of mass destruction. Too big for the biggest bomb-bay, this Hydrogen bomb was the most powerful weapon ever built by man. Its destructive power was equal to fifty million tons of TNT.

Its creator, the Soviet Union, was locked in a mortal struggle with the west…a world-wide political and economic conflict known as the Cold War.

NIKITA KRUSHCHEV - GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE SOVIET COMMUNIST PARTY

WE HAVE ANNOUNCED THAT WE HAVE A 100 MILLION MEGATON BOMB, YES, WE HAVE, I CONFIRM IT. BUT WE ARE NOT GOING TO TEST IT, BECAUSE IF WE EXPLOIT IT WHERE WE INTEND - WE COULD BREAK OUR OWN WINDOWS TOO.

It was rooted in ideology, in distrust and in fear… in the struggle between communist tyrannies and western democracies.

In the early part of the century the Western allies, particularly Britain and America, had shown their antipathy to communism, sending invasion forces to Russia. By the nineteen thirties they distrusted Stalin and his ruthless secret agencies. They feared his power and distrusted his designs on the West.

The Nazis had seemed a powerful barrier to the Bolshevik tide but had revealed their true vicious intent and had to be defeated. The old ideological enemies made strange and distrustful Allies.

Even during World War Two the Allies were a match made in hell. Stalin felt, and not without reason, that the West would happily let the Nazis and Russian communists bleed each other to death.

At Yalta, Stalin agreed with Churchill and Roosevelt to jointly conquer Berlin. But then, on the 17^th of April 1945, Stalin secretly decided to take Berlin alone. With a sudden push, and with the loss of six hundred thousand troops…the Russians captured the city.

Having paid such a colossal price, Stalin tried to keep the prize. Germany was divided into four occupation zones controlled by the British, Americans, French and the Russians. Berlin was situated in the Soviet zone, miles behind Russian lines.

MAP – GERMANY DIVIDED

Now the Allies would have to bargain with the Russian dictator to claim what had been agreed upon. But what did the Allies have to bargain with? Their troops were tired and hoping to return home. The task of rebuilding Europe lay ahead. They were still engaged in a brutal war with the Japanese.

U. S. President Harry Truman had already arrived in Potsdam for a victory conference, when he received a secret message...”The baby is born” It was a code. “The first American nuclear bomb had been tested… and it worked.

The “Nuclear Age” had arrived, and with it - the nuclear threat. Truman immediately informed Stalin that the United States had a super-weapon.

Stalin gave no indication that he understood what Truman was talking about. But he already knew from his spies of the American Manhattan Project. The first nuclear bluff was that Stalin did not show his fear. Months later, Truman would use that bomb…to end the war against the Japanese.

The successful American test had changed the odds. At the Potsdam summit Stalin had to return three-quarters of the city to his former Allies. Stalin kept East Berlin, the Allies got the West.

MAP OF WEST BERLIN

Before long Stalin realized he had made a mistake. The U.S. Marshal Plan revitalized and rebuilt Western Europe. Berlin was a beacon of freedom in a tyrannical communist state. The standard of living in West Berlin rapidly rose much higher than that in the East. U.S. aid was offered to Stalin, but fearful of western influence, he turned it down. Eastern Europe would have to rebuild as a collection of impoverished Soviet-ruled states.

Hundreds of thousands of Germans fled to the West. Nothing the Communist’s did could stop them.

Facing a growing crisis, Stalin developed a simple and ruthless plan.

Surrounded by communist territory, West Berlin depended on rail and road corridors. Stalin decided to starve the Berliners into submission. Suddenly, all traffic arteries were cut off. Neither trucks nor trains could get into besieged Berlin. Planes still flew, but Stalin was sure the city could not be supplied by air. Stalin expected Berlin, with its two million five hundred thousand inhabitants left without heat, food or electricity, to surrender.

FULL NAME AND TITLE)TROYANOVSKY

I BELIEVE THAT BLOCKADE WAS A BAD MISTAKE ON BEHALF OF STALIN, HIS HOPES APPARENTLY WERE THAT THE WESTERN POWERS WOULD HAVE TO WITHDRAW FROM WEST BERLIN. I DO NOT THINK THAT HE ENVISAGED A POSSIBLITY TO SET UP AN AIR BRIDGE.

Stalin miscalculated. Allied Air Forces under U. S. General Lucius Clay took up the challenge. A call went out for volunteer pilots. There was one bridge the Soviets could not close; a bridge in the sky. The Berlin Air Lift would attempt to supply a city of millions totally by air.

For eight months - every two minutes - day and night - in spite of the danger, in spite of threats from East German interceptors, in all kinds of weather, the Allied pilots brought in supplies. Two hundred and fifty thousand flights! Hundreds of tons of cargo…from coal to milk to food…a fantastic, heroic operation of mercy and of defiance.

People in West Berlin tried to go on with their lives and work in spite of the emergency.

The kindness of the Allies toward their recent mortal enemy took the world by surprise and astonished the Russians.

Stalin was infuriated. He considered his options. His massive land force of two million troops and tens of thousands of tanks outnumbered the Allies.

Worried that Stalin would risk a war to occupy West Berlin, the Allies concentrated 90 bombers with nuclear warheads in Britain. President Truman made it clear to Stalin that he would order a nuclear strike at Soviet bases in East Germany. The first nuclear confrontation had begun…For two hundred and seventy days the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war.

Then, Stalin blinked. On June (X) 1949 he lifted the blockade. Stalin, humbled by American nuclear power, urged his scientists to hurry,. Soon the Soviet A-bomb was completed and tested. The dangerous game of nuclear “Brinkmanship”…of threat and bluff… had begun.

The world was on a potentially fatal collision course…when suddenly fate took a hand. ………….On March 5^th, 1953 Josef Stalin suddenly… died.

His successor would likely be one of three men…Prime Minister Georgy Malenkov, Communist Party Boss Nikita Khruschev, or Lavrentii Beria, the evil Chief of Stalin’s Secret Services, master of the Gulag, and head of Soviet Military Complex.

Many secrets of the Cold War are linked to Beria. He was not a true communist, not a true believer, but an opportunist. He was also more sophisticated and worldly than his provincial Politburo rivals. His secret agents had given him a window on the West and he knew the main secret of the Cold War. …that the West was economically superior, that free trade and modern government was a powerful engine… that Communism, in the long run… could not win.

(FULL NAME AND TITLE)ERICKSON

AFTER THE DEATH OF STALIN, PEOPLE, INCLUDING SOME OF MY COLEAGUES, BY THE WAY, FIND IT VERY HARD TO BELIEVE THAT THE SOVIET UNION OFFERED TO JOIN THE NATO. AND THIS IS THE DEAL THAT BERIA DID OR ATTEMPTED TO DO.

Beria wanted to turn to the West. He tried to make his first step in Berlin.

According to Beria’s plan all of East Germany would be returned to the West. The Soviets would be paid ten billion dollars in reparations.

In the summer of 1953 Beria arrived in Berlin to discuss his plans with the East German Government.This initiative cost him his life. This cynical plo But he made a fatal mistake. He underestimated the East German rulers’ ddesire to remain in power…even as puppets of the Soviet Union.

As soon as Beria left for Moscow left Berlin to return to Moscow - an uprising broke out in East Berlin. For many years it has been believed that this riot had purely economic roots, that the people were demonstrating for more food, more goods, for a better living standard. But, in fact, this insurrection was planned…in Moscow and in East Berlin. The East German Government provoked the riots. Then they called in Soviet tanks to involve Moscow, to compromise Beria’s plans, and to prevent Germany from being reunited.

This plot was conceived by Krushchev. When Beria returned to Moscow, he was arrested. He was declared an Imperialist agent and executed in December, 1953.

A new actor took the world stage. Nikita Khruschev, the gruff, bear-like, strong-willed party boss became head of the Soviet Union. He would lead the Soviet Empire during the most dangerous period in world history…

End of act 1.

Act 2.

In 1953 new leaders came into office on both sides of the Cold War… Former General Dwight David Eisenhower was elected President of the United States and Nikita S. Khruschev became Premier of the Soviet Union.

The Cold Warriors had first met in Moscow in 1946…at a May Day parade when Stalin invited General Eisenhower to the reviewing platform stand on the Mausoleum in Red Square.

Eisenhower’s style was to lead by consensus…he had held together a fractious coalition against the Nazis and now held out hope for a rapprochement with the Soviet Union.

But in the following years mutual distrust grew…relations between the United States and Soviet Union rapidly deteriorated.

By 1959 the tension surrounding West Berlin became critical.

NIKITA KRUSHCHEV

WE WILL NOT LET ANYBODY INTO ANY WEST BERLIN. // ALL RIGHTS TO DECIDE WHO ENTERS BELONGS TO THE GOVERNMENT OF EAST GERMANY AND TO NOBODY ELSE.

Unlike Beria, Khruschev had no intention of giving either West Berlin or Germany to the West.

TROYANOVSKY

ATTEMPTS TO ARM WEST GERMANY WERE CONTINUED, THE DIVISION OF GERMANY WAS CONTINUED. AND THERE WAS NO RESPONSE FROM THE UNITED STATES.

When, in 1960, Eisenhower asked Khruschev to visit the United States, the Soviet leader interpreted the invitation to be a result of his pressure on West Berlin.

It seemed that face-to-face the two ex-generals might find it easier to understand each other. Hard-nosed and ambitious, Khruschev respected Eisenhower. He was eager to reform his country and to position it as one of the two world powers. To achieve his goals, Khruschev was prepared to take risks.

TROYANOVSKY

LATER IN 1958 EISENHOWER INVITED KRUSHCHEV TO COME TO THE UNITED STATES. KRUSHCHEV INTERPRETED THIS INVITATION AS THE RESULT OF HIS PRESEast and West agreed to meet in Paris in 1960. to discuss the situation. Khruschev invited Eisenhower to visit the Soviet Union. But soon events took place which prolonged the Cold War for another three decades. They developed as a chain of very dangerous coincidences.

The West was deeply concerned about Russian nuclear developments. Since the early fifties, the US had conducted active air reconnaissance over Soviet territory.

The Soviets were aware of the U.S. reconnaissance flights. The Russians hunted these planes. . A twoTwo hundred and fifty two American airmen were shot down. Twenty-four were killed, ninety survived and one hundred and thirty-eight were missing in action. But for their own reasons, each side kept the secret. The destiny of dozens of these Americans remains unknown.

As losses grew, the flights were stopped. But, in 1956, the U.S. developed a new weapon of the Cold War, a reconnaissance plane, which flew at extremely high altitudes… The U2. This plane seemed impervious... the Soviet Antiaircraft missiles and interceptors simply could not reach it. Overflights of Soviet territory were ordered.

During Kruschev’s visit to the United States, the flights were stopped. But soon after his departure, the flights were renewed.

SERGEI KHRUSCHEV

AND THE FIRST FLIGHT WAS BLOW IN HIS FACE. HE TOLD: THE AMERICANS THOUGHT - WE ARE NOT EQUAL - THEY CAN DO ANYTHING WHAT THEY WANT ON OUR TERRITORY. HE REFUSED AFTER THE FIRST FLIGHT TO SEND THE NOTES OF THE PROTEST. HE TOLD: I JUST SEE HOW ALL OF THEM LAUGHING AT ME IN THE WASHINGTON DC - THAT WE CAN DO NOTHING TO THEM.

Krushchev, powerless, played for time. He visited the US...(more details)

But soon after Krushchev returned from his trip to the United States, the first of the U-2 flights took plaInfuriated, Khruschev hastily announced the formation of new strategic missile forces.

It was more bluff and bluster than substance. They had only a few dozen missiles. But Khruschev managed to keep this weakness a secret. These missiles were seen as a new and dangerous threat by the West. and served to escalate

(FULL NAME AND TITLE )ORLOV

THE AMERICANS WERE CONCERNED WHAT KIND OF FORCES? WHERE ARE THEY LOCATED? AND THOUGH EISENHOWER WAS AGAINST IT, BUT CIA DIRECTOR ALLEN DALLES CONVINCED HIM TO ALLOW FEW MORE FLIGHTS.

TO MAKE FEW MORE FLIGHTS. EISENHOWER WAS AGAINST IT BUT ALLEN DULLES - CHIEF OF THE CIA TALKED HIM INTO IT.

Eisenhower preferred to be cautiouscaution, especially before the Summit in Paris. But under pressure, hthe Cold Warre reluctantly gave permission to make two more flights…the last would take place no later than May 1, 1960.

On the 9th of April a U-2 plane appeared in the Soviet sky. Anti-aircraft stations tried to reach it with missiles. what is now the space Anti-aircraft stations Fighters were sent up to intercept it - all without any results. It passed over Russian territory safely and returned to its base with vital photo-reconnaissance.

The second flight was scheduled for the very end of April. But the weather turned bad. The flights were canceled. Then, on the last day allowed by the President... On the 1st of May - the weather cleared!

The plane, piloted by a civilian employee of the CIA, took off from a secret air-base in Peshavar, Pakistan headed for the Soviet Union. Once more it’s route went over the top-secret Semipalatinsk’ nuclear test ground, over military space-fields and missile test-grounds in Baykonyr and Plisetzk.

of the Soviet Union.

In the U.S nobody paid attention to the date, but in the Soviet Union Mayday was the most important national holiday celebrated by a traditional military parade through Red Square.

MAP: POWERS ROUTE.

Khruschev took the U2 flight on this day as a personal insult.

ORLOV

OUR STATIONS SPOT THE PLANE, FOLLOW IT. AND ALL OF IT - IN THE MORNING OF THE MAYDAY. THEY IMMEDIATELY REPORT EVERYTHING TO KHRUSCHEV. WE ALL SUMMONED TO THE HEADQUARTETS. ALL VERY NERVOUS. TELEPHONES “STEAMING”. THE PLANE GOES ON.

Two Soviet fighters were scrambled to attempt a high-altitude intercept. The U2 approached the missile station in Sverdlovsk. Unknown to the Americans, new C-75 missiles were based in Sverdlovsk. These missiles had a top altitude of 80 thousand feet.. One of the missiles hit the U2’s tail. The plane started falling. But Russian Radar could not discern this. To the radar operators it looked like the U2 was creating interference to mask its position. The Russians fired again. A missile hit a Russian interceptor. The Russian pilot was killed…as the American bailed from his stricken craft and was taken prisoner..

As he reviewed the military parade in Red Square, Khruschev got a report. The American U2 had been intercepted...The pilot, Francis Gary Powers, an American...captured.

on the crisis in Berlin.

SERGEI KRUSHCHEV.

RIGHT ON THE 1^ST OF MAY IT WAS HIS PERSONAL VICTORY AND HE WAS HAPPYAFTER PARADE HE CALLED, LAUGHING, HE TOLD: “WE SHOT HIM, WE CARPUTED THIS GUY, THOUGH WE’LL SHOW THESE AMERICANS, THAT THEY CAN NOT DO THIS ANYMORE ON OUR TERRITORY”

Khruschev was ready to accept Eisenhower’s apologies. He suggested that Eisenhower come to Paris one day early to settle the problem. Eisenhower refused.

Khruschev was in high spirits on the way to Paris.

NIKITA KRUSHCHEV

I’M SO SURPRISED THAT AFTER ALL THIS EISENHOWER STILL WANTS TO COME. GOD, I REALLY DON’T KNOW WHAT HE IS THINKING ABOUT! EVEN THE PIG DOES NOT DINE WHERE IT FOULS. EISENHOWER FOULED IN THE SOVIET UNION - IT’S ELEMENTARY THE MAN SHOULD NOT COME TO ME - HOW COULD I TREAT HIM AFTER ALL THIS?

Krushchev was having fun on the way to Paris. He knew how the meeting would endTROYANOVSKY

HE SAID THAT- “DECISION HAS BEEN TAKEN THAT AT THE SUMMIT I WILL SAY THAT EISENHOWER SHOULD SAY HE IS SORRY ABOUT THE U-2 PLANE.

Krushchev made an ultimatum to President Eisenhower... Khruschev tried to use the incident to pressure Eisenhower, to force a compromise… to force a western retreat from Berlin. He wanted Eisenhower to apologize…to punish those responsible.. Eisenhower refused. Khruschev cancelled the summit. When British Prime-Minister Harold Macmillan arrived, he was surprised to learn the Summit was over before it began.

An infuriated Khruschev held a press-conference, once more threatening the West.

NIKITA KRUSHCHEV

WE HAVE NOT FINISHED YOU OFF AT STALINGRAD, IN UKRAINE AND BELORUSSIA. BUT IF YOU DARE AND TRY TO SCARE US AGAIN, PLANNING ATTACKS ON US - WE’LL KICK YOU SO HARD - YOU’LL NEVER RISK IT AGAIN!

SERGEI KRUSHCHEV

I THINK IT WAS POSSIBLE THAT WE WOULD FINISH THE COLD WAR EARLIER. I STILL DIDN’T FIND ANY ANYSWER - WHY GARTER PRESSED EISENHOWER NOT TO MEET WITH KHRUSCHEV. AT ANY CASE THEY HAD TO MEET NEXT DAY. I THINK THAT IT IS CASE BELONGS NOT FOR THE MYSTERIES, BUT FOR THE SECRETS, COLD WAR SECRETS.

Generals Eisenhower and Khruschev were Allies during the war. They’d fought against fascism and defeated it. But they were unable to overcome the hostility and mistrust born in the Cold War. Now Khruschev prepared for clashes with a new U.S. Commander-in- Chief.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was elected President in November 1960. He was young and vigorous. He represented change. People were tired of the Cold War. Both sides eagerly awaited the results of a Summit in Vienna in June 1961.

The topics were West Berlin and the problem of nuclear missiles, which according to Khruschev, the Soviet Union was producing like sausages.

At the summit, Khruschev said that if the Berlin problem could not be solved jointly - he himself would settle it once and forever. Kennedy suggested that in this case there could be a war. “Well, if a war is to begin let it be sooner rather than later” - Khruschev replied.

SERGEI KRUSHCHEV

KRUSHCHEV TOLD HIM THAT: “WE CAN DESTROY YOU, NOT ALL THE UNITED STATES, BUT YOUR MAIN CITIES. YOU CAN DESTROY US”. THEN KENNEDY TOLD: “WE CAN DESTROY YOU 20 TIMES”. HE (KHRUSCHEV) TOLD: “WE ARE NOT SO BLOODY AS YOU, WE DON’T NEED TO DESTROY YOU MANY TIMES. WE’LL KILL YOU ONLY ONCE. IT’S ENOUGH”.

Upon returning from Vienna Kennedy was worried and concerned. He said: “This winter will be rather cold”.

Khruschev, an experienced politician of the Stalin school - ruthless and cunning, was looking for a decision which would cut the knot of the Berlin problemdecision which would, with one stroke, cut the knot of. Now, he thought he had found the solution…

End of Act 2.

Act 3.

On August 13, 1961 news from West Berlin shocked the world. East German soldiers were surrounding West Berlin with barbed wire. When Kennedy got the news he was stunned. He’d already been threatened by Kruschev. At a meeting in Moscow (or Vienna>) The Soviet leader had suddenly started boasting that if Kennedy started a war over West Berlin he would be the last President of the United States.

The U.S. had developed several plans for dealing with such a crisis. Now Kennedy was briefed. He learned that all the plans included one extremely drastic provision...

(NAME AND TITLE) BLIGHT

THE QUESTION WAS - HOW DO YOU DEFEND BERLIN WITH 12.000 TROOPS WHEN THEY’VE GOT 2.000.000. HOW DO YOU? WHAT DO YOU DO? AND THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS “WELL, YOU GO THAT WAY, YOU GO THIS WAY AND THEN YOU USE NUCLEAR WEAPON. IF THAT EVER HAPPENED- FIRST THING THAT WOULD HAVE OCCURED IS THAT THE AMERICANS WOULD HAVE USED TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN BERLIN AND THEY WOULD PROBABLY DESTROYED MOST OF WEST BERLIN AND ALL OF THE SOVIET SOLDIERS IN IT. AND WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THAT? AFTER YOU HAVE ALREADY STARTED A NUCLEAR WEAPON…

Neither Kennedy nor the military knew what Khruschev and the Eastern Germans intended. Would they risk war to drive the West out of Berlin? For several days tension grew.

Then, on (DATE) the East Germans eased the crisis. They declared that closing the border did not affect the Allies’ rights. They still had open access to West Berlin. Closing the border was not to trap the westerners in Berlin as the West feared, but to prevent East Germans from escaping to the West.

Kennedy and the military breathed a sigh of relief…the time for extreme measures had not yet come. Soon East Germany started replacing the barbed wire surrounding the city with a concrete wall.

Nevertheless, the conflict built. On October 25^th American tanks approached the Check Point Charlie, the chokepoint between East and West. Russian tanks drove up to confront them. The tanks faced off, engines running, fifty yards apart.

Tension rapidly grew. Nerves could fail. Someone could open fire. For three days shocked Berliners watched the stand-off. A clash seemed unavoidable.

What nobody knew was that neither Kennedy nor Kruschev had ordered this confrontation. Even today nobody can fully explain why the American and Russian tanks were sent to Check Point Charlie. Or who sent them…It is a mystery of the Cold War.

The leaders of both countries kept silent during the stand-off. They both tried to play down the incident launched without their consent.

Tanks stood facing each other…Russians and Americans eye-ball to eye-ball…rounds in the chamber. The Russians knew the American saying that “He who blinks first loses”. But Khruschev blinked. He moved the Russian tanks into side streets where they were unseen. Relieved, the American commanders quickly pulled their tanks out. The world again…had barely escaped a nuclear confrontation.

Sometime later One more thing is surprising. Kennedy expressed the American view, admitting in the private conversation: "The wall is better than the war".

But, then…three days later, shattering news… The Russians had detonated a Super-bomb.

SUVOROV

WHEN I WORKED IN SOVIET GENERAL HEADQUARTERS, I HEARD SOVIET GENERALS DISCUSSING AMONG THEMSELVES: “SOME PEOPLE SAY WE ARE BRUTAL BEASTS - NO, IN FACT IT IS THE SCIENTISTS, WHO ARE THE MOST BLOODTHIRSTY BEASTS. SOMETIMES THEY BRING SUCH PLANS TO US THAT WE SAY: “GOD, IT’S TERRIBLE, IT’S REALLY INHUMAN”.

The designers of the super-bomb gave it a very Russian name "IVAN". It equaled fifty million tons of TNT or one million train boxcars loaded with explosives, two thousand five hundred times the power of the bomb that leveled Hiroshima.

KASIMOV - CHIEF OF NUCLEAR TEST GROUND NOVAYA ZEMLYA -

THOSE WORKS WERE TOP-SECRET. THEREFORE WE HAD TO BE VERY CAREFUL DEALING WITH THE OUTER WORLD. IN FACT WE WERE CUT OFF FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD.

The strategic bomber TU-95 had a special coating to protect it from the heat wave. The enormous bomb had to be fixed to the belly of the plane. It was too big for the bomb-bay. Even seasoned bomb-testers feared this monster.

KASIMOV

THE EXPLOSION TOOK PLACE AT THE ALTITUDE OF 4.5 KILOMETERS. IT HAD TO BE THAT HIGH TO ENSURE TEST SECURITY. AT SUCH ALTITUDE THE FIREBALL OF EXPLOSION DID NOT TOUCH THE GROUND, SO IT SUCKED IN LESS SOIL, DIMINISHED RADIOACTIVE CONTEMINATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE.

The plane headed for the secret test ground on Novaya Zemlya. All details of the flight were controlled from the underground control center.A six thousand square meter parachute would delay its fall. The bomber time to get away. These cameras were sixty miles from the epicenter. “We were in the devil's jaws." - the pilots said.

KASIMOV

... ALL OF US WERE LYING 100 KILOMETERS FROM THE EPICENTER, HEADS AWAY FROM IT, WEARING PROTECTION GLASSES. THE "LEG" OF THE SOIL SUCKED IN - I.E. THE CLASSIC NAGASAKI AND HIROSHIMA SCHEME.

The explosion took place at high altitude, the leg of the mushroom cloud was six miles wide. The radioactive fireball reached an altitude of forty miles above the surface of the earth.

KASIMOV

THE EXPLOSION WAS … BEAUTIFUL, IF I MAY SAY SO AS A SCIENTIST.

The shock wave of the monstrous explosion traveled fifteen hundred kilometers. It broke windows in Norway and Finland.

These pictures were taken eight hundred kilometers from the epicenter. But then the scientists had the most monstrous idea of all. It has been written as fiction, but the plan …was all too real…

VICTOR SUVOROV - FORMER GRU AGENT

BUT THERE WAS ANOTHER EVEN MORE TERRIBLE, SAVAGE PROJECT. IT GOT THE CODE NAME "DOOMSDAY". IT WAS DEVELOPED AS THE ULTIMATE MEASURE… IF WE LOSE A WAR, WE LOSE THE WAR - WHAT'S THEN? WELL, WE'LL FIX THESE AMERICANS! IF COMMUNISM IS DYING - WHY SHOULD ANYBODY ELSE SURVIVE? THE PROJECT WAS TO DESIGN A BOMB, WHICH, IF EXPLODED, WOULD CAUSE ALL LIFE ON EARTH TO BE TERMINATED. THIS BOMB WAS TO BE BUILT INSIDE A HUGE SHIP.

COMPUTER GRAPHICS - SHIP/BOMB

! THE REASON BEHIND THE IDEA WAS - WE'LL PERISH IN THIS WAR, BUT YOU, COMRADES AMERICANS - SEE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO YOU.

The Ivan bomb, some thirty feet in length, had shocked the entire world…This nuclear device would destroy it. The ship itself would be the bomb. The entire hold would be filled with fissionable material. The structure of the vessel and the water it sailed in would vaporize. It would fill earth’s atmosphere with a radioactive cloud.

And everyone else. The ship was to sail along the Soviet borders - its meters constantly monitoring radiation levels. If ever they registered radiation that indicated nuclear apocalypse in the Soviet Union, they would automatically trigger the monstrous bomb. Mankind would be destroyed.

But the bomb to end the world would be automatic…out of control. Even a Cold War risk-taker such as Khruschev could not take such a risk. He banned the idea. The Doomsday machine was never built…

End of block 3.

Act 4.

The new year 1962 could have beenecome the last in human history… Doomsday might come as a consequence of the Cold War; Perhaps as …its logical conclusion.

BLIGHT.

1961, MAYBE INTO 1962 THAT LITTLE PERIOD WAS THE PERIOD WHEN THE UNITED STATES FOR THE LAST TIME WOULD ENJOY SUCH A SUPERIORITY OVER THE SOVIET UNION - IN BOTH - BOMBERS AND MISSILES AND ANY OTHER KIND OF DELIEVERY SYSTEMS, THAT IT WOULD BE CONCIVABLY POSSIBLE, THIS WAY WAS THE THEORY - TO ATTACK THE SOVIET UNION, DESTROY SOVIET COMMUNISM FOREVER AND HAVE NO DAMAGE.

By 1962, the Russians had a problem. The United States had a seventeen to one superiority in nuclear missiles or and warheads. More frightening was the fact that the U.S. missiles were American military based in Great Britain, Italy and Turkey. They could reach population most vital centers in the Soviet Union in eight to ten minutes. The Soviets had no forward missile bases with which to balance the threat. Their missiles had to be launched from Soviet territory and had to be launched from Soviet territory and needed twenty-five minutes to reach their U.S. targets. To the Soviets this disadvantage gave the U.S. the opportunity to launch a first strike. Khruschev desperately sought a means to balance the nuclear threat.

ERICKSON

I DO NOT BELIEVE AND I NEVER HAD, BY THE WAY, THAT THE SOVIET UNION WAS, UNQUICKLY, PERMANENTLY, UNMISTAKEABLY AGRESSIVE. WE’VE NEVER TAKEN, AND THIS IS ONE OF THE _ _ _ _ OF THE COLD WAR PROBLEMS, IN FACT TAKEN AT LEAST A REGARD FOR RUSSIAN LEGIMATE DEFENSIVE INTERESTS.

In 1962 Khruschev made a dangerous and secret move. For a while it remained secret.

Then, on October 14, 1962 an American U-2 plane on a reconnaissance mission over Cuba took a series of high resolution exposures. Experts in the CIA laboratories analyzed the photos and came to the highly indisputable and alarming conclusion - Soviet medium range missiles had been installed in Cuba, ninety miles from the United States. They were discovered by chance. One day the Soviets forgot to camouflage their preparations. The discovery shocked the Americans. On the 22^nd of October President John Kennedy addressed the nation.

KENNEDY

IT SHALL BE THE POLICY OF THIS NATION, TO REGARD ANY NUCLEAR MISSILE LAUNCHED AGAINST ANY NATION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE AS AN ATTACK BY THE SOVIET UNION ON THE UNITES STATES, REQUIRING A FULL _ _ _ _ REPLY UPON THE SOVIET UNION. I CALL UP ON THE CHAIRMAN KHRUSCHEV - TO HOLL AND ELIMINATE THIS _ _ _ _ RECKLESS AND PROVOCATIVE THREAT TO WORLD PEACE.

Any minute the developing crisis could turn into a global nuclear conflict with Cuba as its trigger.

The roots of this drama go back to 1959, when Fidel Castro seized power. As a communist he had reasons to worry that the U.S. would take action against his regime. An alliance with the Russians was his best hope for survival. For Khruschev, the enemy of his enemy…was his friend.

BLIGHT

FIRST FIDEL CASTRO IN THE SUMMER OF 1961 GOES TO MOSCOW AND ASKS FOR HELP. CHE GUAVARA AND A BUNCH OF HIS PEOPLE IN AUGUST - ASKS FOR HELP. I HAVE SEEN THE DOCUMENT - THE DOCUMENT SAYS: WE NEED HELP QUALITIVELY DIFFERENT THAT ANYTHING WE RECEIVED BEFORE. HE DIDN’T ASK FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS - BUT WHAT HE COULD BE POSSIBLY TALKING ABOUT, BECAUSE THEY HAVE ALREADY TANKS, AND “MIGS”, AND SOLDIERS, AND GUNS, AND BOATS AND SO FORTH.

Khruschev loved the style of diplomacy that relied on the nuclear bluff. Once he wrote to Castro: “Now, with our misssiles, we can hit a fly!” “That’s great, - Castro replied, - but how about hitting the U.S.?” Perhaps at that moment Khruschev got the idea!

In June 1962, under the cover of large-scale war games, the Russians brought troops, equipment and arms to Soviet sea-ports.

The troops were secretly loaded into dozens of cargo ships - destination unknown. Only later the ship captains were informed … they were headed to Cuba.

Forty-two thousand soldiers were kept in the ships’ holds under top security. Only at night could they go on deck for fresh air.

SEMICHASTNY

IT WAS KHRUSCHEV WHO DID IT ALL WITH HIS CLOSEST ASSOCIATES. I WAS CHAIRMAN OF THE KGB AND I STILL DID NOT KNOW OF NUCLEAR WAR HEADS BEING DELIEVERED THERE, NOBODY ASKED MY ADVICE.

It was one of the greatest secret operations of the twentieth century. But the secrecy itself was nearly a catastrophic mistake.

When the Americans discovered the missiles, the Russians needed only two and a half hours more to prepare the missiles to launch.

Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko and Ambassador Dobrynin tried to convince President Kennedy that there were no Soviet missiles in Cuba…They lied.

The secret installation and continued lying by the Russians indicated to the American Government that these missiles were intended for a secret strike against the US. To Kennedy and his advisors the nuclear threat was very real. They discussed and argued over their options…to find a response…to safeguard their people and their country… while preventing an all-out nuclear war. Of all possible counter-measures, from invasion to threat to nuclear first strike…Kennedy chose the most balanced one - he ordered a sea-blockade of Cuba.

Americans lived through terrifying days. Panic started, people bought out food-supplies. They feared U.S. military action against Cuba and a retaliatory strike at the US.

The nuclear nightmare had become reality. The American Navy took positions along a blockade line around Cuba.

Because of the time difference, it was evening when the Russians got the news of Kennedy’s speech and the American response.

Kruschev had misjudged Kennedy. He had sensed weakness at the Summit in Vienna. Now he was surprised and frightened by the U.S. resolve. U.S nuclear missiles, now on alert, were targeted at Moscow, at Leningrad.. The Americans were enraged.

Khruschev immediately summoned his closest circle. He was extremely nervous.

SEMICHASTNY, FORMER CHIEF OF KGB.

HE WAS AT A LOSS HIMSELF - HE DID NOT EXPECT SUCH REACTION AND SUCH BEHAVIOR FROM AMERICANS. THERE HE WAS TO LOOK FOR A WAY OUT OF THE SITUATION.

Soviet ships were nearing the blockade line. Some carried R-14 nuclear missiles with enough warheads to cover the entire United States. The U.S. had indicated its intent to prevent this by force. Now it was Khruschev who sought a way out.

TROYANOVSKY -. KRUSHCHEV’S AIDE, AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS.

HE SAID: “WELL, THE MISSILES ARE APPROACHING CUBA, THEY WILL BE IN PLACE THERE AND WE ARE APPROACHING A BIG “BLOW-UP”. HE SAID:

I SAID: ”LET’S HOPE THAT THE BOAT WILL NOT SINK WITH EVERYBODY ABOARD!” HE SAID: “WELL IT‘S TOO LATE TO CHANGE ANYTHING NOW!”

The missile-carrying ships were accompanied by soviet submarines equipped with nuclear torpedoes. U.S. Coast Guard planes registered their engine noise.

Tensions grew. The distance between the American and Soviet ships grew smaller and smaller.

Soviet freighters were only two hours from the quarantine zone. Tension grew. The distance to the blockade line got smaller and sm

ERICKSON

CRISIS CRACKLED AND SPARKLED, YOU KNOW, LIKE A HIGH-TENSION CABLE, WHICH IS DROPPED ON YOU. AND SPARKING IN ALL DIRECTIONS. SPEAKING FOR MYSELF, ACTUALLY I JUST WONDERED HOW WE’RE GONNA GET OUT OF THIS. I MEAN IT WAS WEDNESDAY, AND THEN YOU’VE GOT THIS ANOTHER PROBLEM, YOU KNOW OF THE NAVAL BLOCKADE, OF THE SOVIET SHIPS MOVING TO THE BLOCKADE. BUT THEY STOPPED, WHAT HAPPENS IF THEY DIDN’T STOP?

Khruschev still delayed his decision…hoping for a miracle. But there was no way out. …He ordered the missile-carrying ships to stop …then to turn back.

On the 24^th of October the military clash was avoided. But what would have happened if Khruschev’s orders had come too late?

End of Act 4.

Act 5.

The Americans won the first round. The Soviet ships carrying missiles turned back. But the key problem remained. Soviet nuclear weapons were still in Cuba. The U.S. prepared for military action. Troops were sent to Florida and to the Caribbean.

Moscow became extremely worried. Soviet minister of defense Marshal Rodion Malinov sent a coded telegram to Cuba:

GRIBKOV - CLIP

“TAKE ALL THE MEASURES TO REPEL THE AGGRESSION TOGETHER WITH THE CUBAN ARMY - EXCEPT THE NUCLEAR WEAPON.

The CIA then made a decision to send a U-2 on a reconnaissance mission over the Soviet missile pads on Cuba to determine whether they were ready to launch missiles.

On the 27^th of October - at 10:30 am, the plane was over Cuba. Cuban Anti-Aircraft guns opened a barrage fire, but the U-2’s altitude was too great. They could not reach it.

GRIBKOV - CLIP

Then, the U2 appeared on Russian radar screens. Somebody…to this day, nobody knows who…gave the order to fire. This battery was equipped with the new Russian C75 missiles… and unknown to the Americans, they could reach the U2’s altitude.

The missile tracked the American reconnaissance plane. Neither Moscow, nor the commander of the Soviet troops in Cuba had given the order. Neither Moscow nor the commander were aware of the launch.

The American plane was hit. The pilot, Major Rudolph Andersen, died in the crash.

It was clear to Kennedy and the advisors that only a Russian missile could reach the plane. They could not imagine that it could have been launched without a direct order from Moscow.

Did it mean the Russians were starting the war? To the Cold Warriors it seemed so…

The American generals insisted that Kennedy order an immediate Pre-emptive strike on Cuba, before the Russians could launch their remaining missiles at the United States.

At this moment Kennedy received a message from the U.S. embassy in Moscow. The embassy had just received a most urgent message from Khruschev. The future U.S. Ambassador Matlock was to translate it.

BLIGHT - CLIP.

HE IS 20-SOMETHING, YOU KNOW, HE SPEAKS EXCELLENT RUSSIAN, SO THEY RELY ON HIM AND HE’S GOT ALL THE CLEARANCES. BUT EVERYBODY IN WASHINGTON SAYS: HURRY UP! I NEED IT KNOW! HE IS SAYING: DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO TRANSLATE KHRUSCHEV. I MEAN KHRUSCHEV IS A PEASANT. AND HE USES ALL THIS SORT OF NOT SO NICE LANGUAGE. AND MEANWHILE IN WASHINGTON THEY ARE RAVING THEIR HANDS AND TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHEN THE NEXT PIECE OF THE LETTER IS COMING IN.

When Washington got the message, the Aemricans were confused. Then it became clear.. Khruschev was still trying to bargain. He didn’t realize how critical the situation had become. It seemed he didn’t know about the attack on the U2 and therefore hadn’t intended it.

Pressured by his advisors and by the threat to U.S. security, Kennedy had no choice but to send Khruschev his ultimatum. All he could do was to “soften” its style.

Robert Kennedy informed the Russian Ambassador that if the Soviet Union didn’t remove the missiles from Cuba…the U.S. was ready to start a large scale operation to destroy them.

To back up the ultimatum Kennedy alerted the U.S. military forces. Now the U.S. and Soviet Union were one step away…from nuclear war.

BLIGHT

THIS IS THE ONLY TIME IN HISTORY WHEN THE NUCLEAR MISSILE SITES IN NORTH DAKOTA AND IN NEBRASKA HAD THEIR LIDS REMOVED. NOW THE NEXT STEP WOULD BE TO BRING THE MISSILE UP TO THE GROUND LEVEL. THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN, BUT CLEARLY THERE IS A MESSAGE BEING SENT HERE: “I’VE HIT THAT BUTTON, AND THERE IS ONLY ONE BUTTON LEFT TO HIT”.

The Russians reacted immediately - the lids on their launch pads opened to bare the missiles. Both American and Soviet strategic nuclear bombers took off.

The Soviet Army declared a Red Alert…along with their East-European satellites. NATO went to full alert.

In the night of October 27-28 Castro sent a coded telegram to Moscow. According to his information, the United States intended to invade Cuba within 24 hours.

Only then did Khrushchev realize the gravity of the situation. If Americans landed on Cuba the disaster was inevitable…for Krushchev had another deadly secret…

One that was not revealed for thirty years…the greatest Soviet secret… that besides the medium-range nuclear missiles, known to Americans, there were other nuclear weapons in Cuba… weapons unknown to the U.S. President… to the generals… to the CIA …

In Cuba, the Soviets had secretly placed…winged, tactical “LUNA” missiles with nuclear warheads. They had boats with nuclear missiles and bombers on Cuban airstrips loaded with nuclear warheads. These weapons had no fail-safe devices. They could be triggered by their crews. …Moscow was not in control.

SERGEI KRUSHCHEV

THAT HE TRIED TO AVOID INVASION. BECAUSE HE UNDERSTOOD AFTER THE FIRST EXPLOSION OF THE BOMB HE WILL LOSE THE CONTROL OVER THE SITUATION, BECAUSE COMMUNICATIONS ARE VERY POOR AT THAT TIME. AND WHO WILL MAKE DECISION TO USE NUCLEAR WEAPON - NOBODY KNOW. BECAUSE IT WAS VERY EASY AT THAT TIME. YOU CAN SWITCH THE KEY, LIKE IN THE CAR, AND THEN PUSH THE BUTTON. IT WAS NIGHTMARE OF MY FATHER, BECAUSE IT WAS AT ABOUT 100 NUCLEAR WEAPONS ON THE CUBAN TERRITORY. YOU CAN IMAGINE, IN ALL THIS FIRE, EXPLOSION - DYING LEITENAUT, I DON’T KNOW, CAPTAIN, SERGEANT WILL PUSH THIS BUTTON AND LAUCH THE NUCLEAR WEAPON. AND THEN IT WILL BE THE RESPONSE SOMEWHERE, THAT KHRUSCHEV USED THIS NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND AT LAST IT WOULD BE THE END OF THE WORLD, THE END OF THE CIVILIZATION.

Nikita Khruschev loved the nuclear bomb. He loved the power it gave him. He embrased the policy of nuclear bluff. He was comfortable on the brink of nuclear war. He was the biggest brinksman of the twentieth century. But now he had come too close to the edge, to within a blink of nuclear disaster… of the end of civilization. It sobered him. And he realized… the only way to preserve peace, to protect his country, to prevent a world-wide catastrophe… was to remove the missiles from Cuba.

TROYANOVSKY.

KHRUSCHEV GAVE INSTRUCTIONS TO CALL UP POLITBURO MEETING THE NEXT MORNING ON THE 28^TH. AND I WAS THERE. AND IT TOOK PLACE AT THE “DACHA” OUTSIDE THE MOSCOW. IT WAS DECIDED TO GIVE AN ANSWER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

The missiles were removed.

The Cuban Crisis was over, but not the Cold War. It would last for another thirty years.

There would be wars in Africa, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Afghanistan, uprisings in Eastern Europe and many other conflicts. But never again did one side directly threaten the other with nuclear weapons. The weapons were too deadly, too final, and finally too hard to control. The two superpowers backed off from direct confrontation. From now on the war would be fought by surrogates armed with anything but nuclear devices... The leaders and the world had been scared straight.

By the end of the twentieth century the Cold War had become history and the Strangelove Factor, the realization of the inherent insanity of nuclear conflict...may have saved the world.

The end.

Maya Toidze & Alexander Alexkine; Revised 2/27/98 C. Proser