FIRING LINE: RESOLUTION: THE SALT TALKS ARE IN THE INTEREST OF U.S. SECURITY {PART 1 OF 2} (TV)
Summary
Part one of two. One in this talk/interview series hosted by William F. Buckley, Jr. This program takes the form of a debate at the Yale Political Union, presided over by Stephen Calabrese and Peter Keisler, on the resolution "The SALT Talks are in the Interest of U.S. Security" with Buckley heading a team for the negative, and Senator George McGovern (D-S.D.) leading the positive position. First, McGovern makes a twelve-minute introductory speech defending the resolution, stating that both Soviets and Americans have such huge nuclear arsenals that there is no sense in increasing the arms of either side and arguing that the present, when both sides have a relative balance and further spending on nuclear weapons is prohibitive, is the ideal time at which to come to an enforceable agreement. In his own introductory speech, Buckley denies the high cost of nuclear armament, stresses the security of the United States as the most important feature of any action, confronts the concept of redundancy in arms stockpiling, and appeals to Americans' national interest above that of appeasing the Soviets. Next, examiners from each side -- retired Admiral Gene LaRocque and former Secretary of the Navy Paul H. Nitze -- question each other. Nitze asks LaRocque about current U.S. expenditures on strategic arms compared to the early days of the Cold War, the growth in U.S. nuclear arms spending compared to that of the Soviets, the concept of effective nuclear superiority, and the importance of prompt counter-force potential. Next, LaRocque queries Nitze about his views on the effectiveness of the SALT negotiations and about the likelihood of avoiding nuclear war as a result. Part one of the debate ends with questions from a student panel of examiners. McGovern responds to Daniel R. Biser's questions about the efficacy of the treaty if the Soviet Union cannot be trusted to honor its terms and Americans cannot verify any major violations of the agreement, Samuel Zorier asks Buckley whether Soviet aggression might in fact be based on a feeling of insecurity, and Lee Lieberman asks McGovern about his views on the Soviet "killer" satellite program. Continues with T:61410.
(Network affiliation varies; this program was also syndicated from 1966 to 1971 and from 1975 to 1977.)
Cataloging of this program was made possible by Mr. and Mrs. Theodore R. Stanley.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: October 1, 1978 1:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:47
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:60355
- GENRE: Talk/Interviews
- SUBJECT HEADING: Strategic Arms Limitation Talks II (SALT II); U S - Foreign relations - U S S R; U S S R - Foreign relations - U S
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1971-1999
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Warren Steibel … Producer, Director
- Paul Sweeney … Associate Producer
- Robin Wu … Researcher
- William F. Buckley, Jr. … Host
- Stephen Calabrese … Moderator
- Peter Keisler … Moderator
- Gene LaRocque … Panelist
- George McGovern … Panelist
- Paul H. Nitze … Panelist
- Daniel R. Biser
- Lee Lieberman
- Samuel Zorier