Item COLD WAR 27/67 - Transcript of interview with Pierre Salinger, press secretary to President John Kennedy, 1996

Typescript transcript of interview with Pierre Salinger, Press Secretary to US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-1963, relating to the importance of the Federal Republic of Germany to the western alliance and the influence of Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor, Federal Republic of Germany, 1949-1951, and 1957-1963, on Kennedy's approach to the Berlin Crisis, 1961; the Federal Republic of Germany as an integral part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and to the defence of western Europe, 1955-1963; the attempt by Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, to achieve détente with the USA by removing the problem of Berlin, 1958; the influence of the Bay of Pigs incident, Cuba, Apr 1961, on the summit meeting between Khrushchev and Kennedy, Vienna, Austria, Jun 1961; a meeting between Salinger and Khrushchev, May 1962; the speech made by Kennedy, broadcast on US television, on the Berlin Crisis, 25 Jul 1961; the slowness of the US response to the Soviet construction of the Berlin Wall, Aug 1961; the visit of US Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson to West Berlin, Aug 1961; the reaction of Kennedy to a letter by Willy Brandt, Mayor of West Berlin, complaining of US inaction over the construction of the Berlin Wall, 1961; the ordering of US troops to travel through the German Democratic Republic on the autobahn in order to reinforce West Berlin, 1961; the influx of refugees from East Berlin to West Berlin, 1961; the Cuban Missile Crisis, Oct 1962; the discovery of the Soviet deployment of SS-4 'Sandal' Medium Range Ballistic Missiles (MRBM) and SS-5 'Skean' Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBM) to Cuba through US reconnaissance photography, 16 Oct 1962; the television broadcast by US President Kennedy to the USA announcing the discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba, Oct 1962; the US naval blockade of Cuba, Oct 1962; communications between the White House and the Kremlin during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Oct 1962; the character and leadership of Kennedy during the crisis, Oct 1962. 39pp