COLD WAR: CONCLUSIONS: 1989-1991 {PART 24 OF 24} (TV)
Summary
Part twenty-four of twenty-four. The concluding episode in this documentary series examining the events of the Cold War, from 1917 to the early 1990s. This series consists of interviews and archival footage, accompanied by historical narration by Kenneth Branagh. This episode covers the developments leading to the end of the Cold War, beginning with President George Bush's summit meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev off the coast of Malta. Condoleezza Rice, aide to Bush, discusses recent changes in the political climate that did much to bring the two sides together in their agreement to end aggressions. As a symbol of the Eastern bloc's movement away from communism, Vaclav Havel speaks about the problems in Czechoslovakia that led to the collapse of the communist regime during the bloodless "Velvet Revolution." A different scenario took place in Romania, where televised coverage is reviewed of the court-martial and execution of leader Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena. Romanian writer Mircea Dinescu discusses the efforts of the entire population to paralyze the nation and force change. Gorbachev and his aide Alexander Yakovlev discuss the Soviet Republics' disappointment in their economic condition, and their desire for the independence given to the Russian satellites. Russian Parliament Deputy Alexander Rutskoi compares the progress of Russian society to the stagnation of the government and the minor reforms made by Gorbachev. Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze admits Gorbachev's reluctance to acknowledge the breakup of the U.S.S.R., Rice talks about Americans' race to end the Cold War before Gorbachev lost power, and Secretary of State James A. Baker III reveals that Gorbachev promised him that no force would be used to keep the republics together. Footage is then shown of Helmut Kohl's historic meeting with Gorbachev, which resulted in a unified Germany's joining the NATO alliance. Further evidence of change is seen in Baker and Shevardnadze's joint condemnation of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, and in statements by Rutskoi and Gorbachev aide Georgi Shakhnazarov that Boris Yeltsin's influence was one of radical change leading to the resignation of Shevardnadze. In a segment devoted to the Lithuanian fight for independence, nationalist Loreta Truchiliauskaite remembers the struggle that caused Gorbachev to draft a new treaty loosening ties with the Soviet Republics; the head of the KGB, Vladimir Kruichkov, explains that this action appalled hard-line communists. This is followed by footage of both Bush's speech and a CNN special report detailing the deposing of Gorbachev, as well as a previously unreleased videotape of Gorbachev's condemnation of the unconstitutional coup. Conflicting views of this period are represented by Moscow resident Tatiana Prikhozhan's theory of Yeltsin as symbol of the new, free Russia, and Kruichkov's desire for the communists to retain power at any price. Clips are then shown of Gorbachev's resigning as General Secretary and criticizing Yeltsin's actions, and of the historic meeting in Minsk to dissolve the Soviet Union and set up a commonwealth of independent states. Bush and Shevardnadze both comment on the peaceful end to the Cold War, and Gorbachev and U.S. statesman Paul Nitze examine the two nations' animosities in the 1940s. Next, environmentalist Sergei Baranovski calls nuclear damage to the environment the Cold War's legacy. Fidel Castro speaks about socialism as the only ideal available to save the world; his viewpoint is contrasted by Havel's assertion that the Soviet system failed because it fought against man's fundamental needs and wants. The program ends with footage of the Soviet flag's being lowered for the last time, and of Bush's Christmas address of 1991, announcing the end of aggression between the two main Cold War antagonists. Commercials deleted.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, 1999.
This selection from the Alan Gerry Cable Collection has been made available by the Gerry Foundation, Inc.
Details
- NETWORK: CNN
- DATE: April 4, 1999 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:46:34
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:58756
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Cold War; Communism - History; Czechoslovakia - History; Romania - History; She Made It Collection (Pat Mitchell); U S S R - History; U S S R - Foreign relations - U S; U S - Foreign relations - U S S R; Lithuania - History
- SERIES RUN: CNN - TV series, 1998-1999
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Pat Mitchell … Executive Producer
- Jeremy Isaacs … Executive Producer
- Vivian Schiller … Senior Producer
- Martin Smith … Series Producer
- Isobel Hinshelwood … Series Associate Producer
- Alison McAllan … Series Associate Producer
- Tessa Coombs … Director
- Ted Turner … Series Concept by
- Shelagh Brady … Editor
- Svetlana Palmer … Research
- Dunja Noack … Research
- Ben Steele … Research
- Liena Smolina … Research
- Judit Szasz … Research
- Jeremy Isaacs … Writer
- Carl Davis … Music by
- Kenneth Branagh … Narrator
- Sergei Baranovski
- James A. Baker, III
- George Bush
- Fidel Castro
- Elena Ceausescu
- Nicolae Ceausescu
- Mircea Dinescu
- Mikhail Gorbachev
- Vaclav Havel
- Helmut Kohl
- Vladimir Kruichkov
- Paul Nitze
- Tatiana Prikhozhan
- Condoleezza Rice
- Alexander Rutskoi
- Georgi Shakhnazarov
- Eduard Shevardnadze
- Loreta Truchiliauskaite
- Lech Walesa
- Alexander Yakovlev
- Boris Yeltsin