Showing 66922 results

Transcript of filmed interview with Kenneth Hodges, Sgt in C Company 1st Bn, 20th Inf, US Army, describing the activities of C Company leading up prior to My Lai, Vietnam, operation, 16 Mar 1968, including minefield casualties suffered by the Company and the effect on their morale; the briefing for the operation at My Lai; the process of training of soldiers to obey orders, and to kill; his justification for in carrying out the orders. 65pp

Typescript transcript of interview with Alfred Aronson, Staff Sergeant, US Army, 1944-1946; relating to his experiences at Kleinitz, Germany, Apr 1945, when the US army advancing eastwards met the USSR army advancing westwards; his posting at Leipzig prior to its occupation by Soviet forces; German fears of Soviet forces; his return to a post-war US, Jan 1946, employment and education opportunities for discharged soldiers, and changes in living conditions since the depression, 1930s. Also comments on the effect of the Soviet blockade of West Berlin, 1948-1949, on his recognition of the existence of the Cold War. 43pp

Typescript transcript of interview with Paul Bernard Henze, member of staff of the US National Security Council, 1977-1980, relating to the conflict between Ethiopia and Somalia, 1977-1978; US relations with Ethiopia and foreign policy on the Horn of Africa countries; USSR relations with Somalia; the role of the US and USSR in the provision of military aid to these African countries; and the participation of Cuban forces in the Ethiopian-Somalia war, 1977. 41pp

Typescript transcript of interview with Wanda Washburn, Secretary, secretary at office of Crusade for Freedom, relating to the role of European immigrant in the US in supporting the Crusade for Freedom, and evidence of US Central Intelligence Agency funding for the organisation. 6pp

Typescript transcript of interview with Dr Condoleezza Rice, Soviet Affairs Specialist, US National Security Council, 1989-[1993], relating to the impact in the USA of the speech made by Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR, to the United Nations Organisation, on allowing East European nations to evolve without Soviet interference, Dec 1988; the influence of Gorbachev's reformist policies on the administration of US President George (Herbert Walker) Bush, 1989; the meeting between Eduard Amvrosievich Shevardnadze, Soviet Foreign Minister, and James Addison Baker III, US Secretary of State, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA, Sep 1989; the visit of US President Bush to Poland and Hungary, Jul 1989; the US policy of co-operation with the USSR over Eastern Europe, 1989; the summit meeting between Bush and Gorbachev, Malta, 1-3 Dec 1989; the revolution in Romania, Dec 1989; opposition to Gorbachev within the USSR, 1990; the reunification of Germany, 31 Aug 1990; fears in the USA and USSR concerning German reunification, 1990; Soviet opposition to a reunified Germany remaining a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), 1990; the summit meeting between Bush and Gorbachev, Washington DC and Camp David, Maryland, USA, 30 May-2 Jun 1990; the announcement by Gorbachev and Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, that a reunified Germany would be a member of NATO, 16 Jul 1990; Rice's belief that Gorbachev and Kohl's announcement signified the end of the Cold War, 1990; the dissolution of the USSR, 1990-1991; US support for the independence of the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, 1990-1991; Rice's opinion of Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin, President of the Russian Federation, Aug 1991-[1997], and his support for the independence of the former Soviet republics, 1990-1991; the US reaction to 'Bloody Sunday', the death of fourteen Lithuanians during the storming of public buildings by Soviet troops, Vilnius, Lithuania, 13 Jan 1991; the influence of the Gulf war on the break up of the USSR, 1991; the 'August coup', USSR, 19-22 Aug 1991; the resignation of Gorbachev as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR, and the dissolution of the Party, 24 and 29 Aug 1991; Yeltsin's creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), 8 Dec 1991; Rice's opinion on the legacy of the Cold War, and how close the world was to a nuclear confrontation, 1945-1990; the impact of the end of the Cold War on the US military industrial complex, 1990-1991; the international responsibilities of the USA since the end of the Cold War, 1990-1997. 42pp

Typescript transcript of interview with Caspar Willard Weinberger, US Secretary of Defence, 1981-1987, relating to US defence policy including, US attitude to Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, and the fall of the Shah of Iran, 1979; US-Pakistan relations during war the Afghanistan 1978-1989; Anglo-US relations during the Falklands War, 1982; US Soviet relations during the term of office of Ronald Reagan, US President 1981-1989; US intervention in conflicts in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Grenada. 20pp

Typescript transcript of interview with Ring Lardner, Jr, scriptwriter, Hollywood, California, USA, relating to the hearings of US Congress House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigations into Hollywood film producing community, 1947, including being subpoenaed to give evidence at the hearings; conflicting legal advice on how to respond to questions about membership of the Communist Party; evidence of witnesses making accusations against communist sympathisers, known as 'friendly witnesses'; Lardner's appearance before the Committee; publicity given to the hearings; his imprisonment, (1950); the development of a 'black list' of individuals prevented from being employed in the film industry; effect of the hearings on his career; employment by American television producer in the UK [1950s]; effects of the campaign against alleged communists and communist sympathisers in US society instigated by Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy, 1950-1954, (McCarthyism). 19pp

Typescript transcript of interview with Dr George A Keyworth, Science Advisor to US President Ronald Reagan, and Director of Office of Science and Technology Policy, relating to US policy under Reagan, US President, 1981-1989, relating to Reagan's support for a Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI), 1983, and US defence policy. 17pp

Typescript transcript of interview with Eugenia Tucker, Russian born wife of Prof Robert C Tucker, describing her reaction to news of the end of World War 2, May 1945, the Victory Day celebrations, Moscow, USSR, 9 May 1945, and the general optimism of Soviet citizens at that time; difficulties and restrictions caused by her marriage to a US citizen; and reaction to news of the death of Soviet President Josef Vissarionovich Stalin, 5 Mar 1953. 11pp

Typescript transcript of interview with Ernst Neizvestny, Soviet artist and emigré, relating to the purges in the USSR on the orders of Soviet President Josef Vissarionovich Stalin, 1935-1938; the impact of the Great Patriotic War on the USSR, 1941-1945; the wartime alliance between the USSR, the USA and the UK, 1941-1945; the death of Stalin, Mar 1953; the denunciation by Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, of the Stalin cult and the excesses of Stalinism at the Twentieth Congress of the Soviet Communist Party, Moscow, USSR, Feb 1956; Neizvestny's commission to sculpt Khrushchev's memorial, [1971]; the Soviet inspired initiative of the European Agreement on Security and Co-operation (Helsinki accords), Helsinki, Finland, 30 Jul-1 Aug 1975; the activities of the KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopastny, the Soviet Committee for State Security) against Neizvestny, [1970-1976]. 21pp

Typescript transcript of interview with Valentin Falin, head of the International Department of the Soviet Communist Party, and Soviet ambassador to Federal Republic Germany (FRG), relating to Soviet foreign policy and relations with the FRG, including the Moscow treaty, Aug 1970. 31pp

Typescript transcript of interview with Doina Maria Zamfirescu, Romanian citizen during the Romanian revolution, Dec 1989, relating to the hatred felt by the majority of the Romanian population for Nicolae Ceausescu, President of the Romanian Socialist Republic, 1967-1989; Zamfirescu's account of the Romanian revolution, Dec 1989; the massacre, by government forces, of civilian demonstrators in Timisoara, Transylvania, Romania, 16 Dec 1989; the capture, by members of the National Salvation Front, of the television station, Bucharest, Romania, 23 Dec 1989; Zamfirescu's reaction to the news of Ceausescu's escape by helicopter from the Central Committee building, Bucharest, 23 Dec 1989; the execution of Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, 25 Dec 1989; the public celebrations at the overthrow of Ceausescu, 23 Dec 1989; the arrival of weapons prior to the capture of the television station, Bucharest, 23 Dec 1989. 11pp

Typescript transcript of interview with Balazs Barabas, Romanian citizen during the Romanian revolution, Dec 1989, relating to Barabas's involvement in a public demonstration in Bucharest, Romania, 21 Dec 1989; the reaction in Romania to the massacre, by government forces, of civilian demonstrators in Timisoara, Transylvania, Romania, 16 Dec 1989; the public celebrations at the overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescu, President of the Romanian Socialist Republic, 23 Dec 1989; the execution of Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, 25 Dec 1989; Barabas's account of the Romanian revolution, Dec 1989. 9pp

Typescript transcript of interview with Padre Lucio Migliaccio, relating to economic hardship in postwar Italy, 1947-1948; the popularity of the Italian Communist Party, 1948; the leadership of Palmiro Togliatti in the Italian Communist Party, 1948; the influence of Pope Pius XII in mobilising Italian public opinion away from the Communist Party, 1948; the Italian election campaign, Apr 1948; the excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church of known communist voters, 1948; the election victory of the Italian Christian Democrats over the left wing Popular Front, Apr 1948. 12pp

Typescript transcript of interview with Khionia [Nikolaevna] Kraskina, Soviet scientist at the Soviet Rocket Development and Space Centre, Baykonur, USSR, 1954-[1961], relating to the Soviet space programme, 1954-1961; Soviet development of Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM), 1953-1957; the launch of the first man to travel in space, Soviet Cosmonaut Yuriy Alekseevich Gagarin, 12 Apr 1961; the launch of the Sputnik I Earth orbiting satellite, Oct 1957; the denunciation by Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, of the Stalin cult and the excesses of Stalinism at the Twentieth Congress of the Soviet Communist Party, Moscow, USSR, Feb 1956; the serious accident that occurred during the testing of a Soviet space rockets, 24 Oct 1960. 21pp

Typescript transcript of interview with Dr Ernst Stuhlinger, German rocket scientist and member of the German Rocket Development Programme, Peenemünde, Germany, [1943]-1945, relating to the surrender of Wernher von Braun and Col Walter (Robert) Dornberger to the advancing US Army, Germany, May 1945; the billeting of captured German scientists by the US Government at Fort Bliss, Texas, USA, 1945-1946; the role of Col (later Maj Gen) Holger Nelson Toftoy, US Army, in the use of German expertise in the US rocket development programme, 1949-1970; US rocket development, Huntsville, Alabama, USA, 1949-1970; the US reaction to the detonation of the first Soviet atomic bomb, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, USSR, 29 Aug 1949; US development of the Chrysler SSM-A-14 Redstone rocket, 1950-1953; the launch of the Soviet Sputnik I and Sputnik II Earth orbiting satellites via SS-6 'Sapwood' Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM), Oct and Nov 1957; the failed attempt by the USA to launch the Vanguard rocket, Dec 1957; the successful launch of Explorer I, a modified Redstone rocket, Jan 1958; the launch of the first man to travel in space, Soviet Cosmonaut Yuriy Alekseevich Gagarin, 12 Apr 1961; the statement by US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy to put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade, May 1961; the successful landing on the Moon of US Astronauts Neil (Alden) Armstrong and Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr, Apollo 11 mission, Jul 1969; the design of the Saturn V space rocket by von Braun, [1965]; Stuhlinger's work on the development of the US General Dynamics SM-65 Atlas and the Martin SM-68 Titan ICBMs, 1953-1961; the 'missile gap', a US perception of the advantage held by the Soviets in the production of Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), [1958]-1960; the Cuban Missile Crisis, Oct 1962. 17pp

Typescript transcript of interview with Boris Sevseevich Chertok, relating to Soviet research into rocket technology, 1933-1957; German wartime rocket research, Nordhausen and Peenemünde, Germany, [1942-1945]; Soviet development of the R-7 (SS-6 'Sapwood') Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), and the launch of the Sputnik I Earth orbiting satellite, 1953-1957; the launch of the first man to travel in space, Soviet Cosmonaut Yuriy Alekseevich Gagarin, 12 Apr 1961; the serious accidents that occurred during the testing of Soviet space rockets, 1956-1962. 22pp

Typescript transcript of Robert M Gates, Assistant to the US President and Deputy National Security Advisor, 1989-1991, interview with Brian Lapping, 9 Dec 1991, discussing events after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, 2 Aug 1990, leading up to US military intervention in Kuwait, 16, Jan 1991. He describes the meeting between US government representatives and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, 6 Aug 1990, seeking permission for US forces operate in Saudi Arabia; meeting with Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt, 7 Aug 1990, and King Hassan II of Morocco; and meetings with US President George H W Bush and his advisors at Kennebunkport. Also describes Bush's meeting with Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah Al Salim Al Sabah, Emir of Kuwait, 28 Sep 1990; the role and composition of the Deputies Committee he chaired, which included Lawrence S Eagleburger, Richard N Haass, Robert M Kimmitt, and Paul Dundes Wolfowitz; and the role of US Congress in US military intervention. Also comments on Iraq's continued use of helicopters after its air force was grounded, Feb 1991. 32pp

Transcript of filmed interview with Varnado Simpson, rifleman, C Company, 1st Bn, 20th Inf, US Army, describing his part in the massacre of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai, Vietnam, 16 Mar 1968, and the devastating effect of his memories of this on his life. 60pp

Transcripts of filmed interview with Michael Berhardt, rifleman, C Company 1st Bn, 20th Inf, US Army, describing his activities of the operation at My Lai, 16 Mar 1969, including the briefing the previous day; seeing the bodies of the Vietnamese civilians who had been killed; orders not to talk about what he had seen; response to encouragement from Ronald Ridenhour (the soldier whose letter to US Congress members resulted in the full investigation of the My Lai massacre) to report the incident; and his attitude to the Army cover up of the massacre. 42pp