Relooking at the Cold War 1947-1991 Don Stanton USN 1968-1992 [email protected]
1951 1985 *1947-91 We, Soviets avoided nuclear war; now in Renewed Version of Cold War .Russian MiGs & TU-95 Bear bombers Alaska; big exercises .Russia supplying Taliban & Syria .Sanctions for Russia’s Ukraine invasion; USN ships in Black Sea .Russia kicked out 700; we closed Consulates .Russians used Facebook & Twitter in 2016 election .Russia & China co-develop Submarines & supporting N Korea .China steals tech;cyber attacks US Tran Comm industry partners .Chinese Navy, Air Force aggressive S China Sea; Executed agents .+++US Pivot to the Pacific; Marines deployed to Australia; TPP *Need more leaders who studied complex global issues, Russia, China, Iran, languages
SACRIFICES; DRAFT; BOMB-A-DAY;NUCLEAR DETERRENCE;CIVIL DEFENSE
Surveillance before satellites “1149 American casualties on Navy patrol missions April 1950 VP-26 PB-4 on patrol Baltic Sea,Shot down by Soviet fighter 10 killed November 1951 VP-6 P-2V Shot down by Soviet fighter Sea of Japan 10 killed July 1952 VP-731 PBM-5 Attacked by Chinese fighters off West Korea 2 killed January 1953 VP-22 P-2V Ditched--AA fire from Swatow Island China; 2 killed September 1954 VP-19 P-2V Shot down by Soviet fighter. Ditched, 1 killed” June 1955 VP-9 P-2V Soviet Mig15s attack Bering Sea;crash-landed St. Laurence I Aug 56 Chin. fighter shot VQ-1 P-4M night 32 mi; 16 April 1969 N.Korean MiG-17s VQ-1 EC-121 90 miles 31 crewmen killed” greatest single aircraft loss 1976-1986 7 P-3s lost; over 70 killed Air Force 16 AC shotdown163 killedRB47 MiG15 1953 Soviet fighters shot down a B-29 which was dropping leaflets in Manchuria. 11 of 14-man crew parachuted and survived, not released til 1956. 1955, Soviet MiG-15s shot down RB-47 near Kamchatka peninsula; crew killed. 1960, ERB-47 shot down in the Barents Sea north of the Kola Peninsula; 4 of the 6 crewmen perished and 2 were held by the Soviets for many months. 1961 USSR shot down Power’s U-2C; 1962 SAMs shot down U-2F killed Anderson 1965 N. Korean Mig 17s knocked out 3 engines ERB-47H;landed Yokota AB Japan 1983 Soviet fighter shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007 Kamchatka 269 lost
1947-1991 Cold War affected all Americans • 1947 National Security Act; Truman Doctrine; Marshall Plan Fed Employees Loyalty Program • 1948 The Draft reinstituted ages 19-26 • 1948-49 Berlin Airlift • 1949 USSR atomic test; Mao China; NATO; Admirals’ Revolt • 1950-53 Korean War • 1952 Hydrogen bombs • 1953 Stalin dies; E. German strikes • 1954 DienBienPhu; Sen. McCarthy • 1956 Fed Highway Act > Interstates • 1957 Sputnik; Space Race Korea: the Unknown War PBS WGBH-1980
Proxy Wars throughout the Cold War
1950 Refugees fleeing North Korean invasion Marines breaking-out from Chosin Reservoir MiG Alley air war 1953 1973 The Draft WWII 16 M Americans served 1948 ages 19-26 Korean War 1.5 M draft 1967 18-35; end college deferment> 4yrs Vietnam War 1.8 M drafted 1969 Draft Lottery 1973 Volunteer Military
General David Petraeus “In World War II, 11.2% of the nation served in 4 years. During the Vietnam era, 4.3% served in 12 years. Since 2001, only 0.45% of our population have served in the Global War on Terror…fewer and fewer people have shouldered more and more of the burden…” Volunteers: Admiral in charge of Navy patrol & minesweeping told us he asked a recruiter how to serve for 2, 3 years after Univ of Penn; he became a pilot 30+years
TACCO Warren Tisdale served for 5 years: “On my first (Keflavik Iceland) mission, we happened to see a Soviet Bear (TU-195 bomber) transiting south and we tracked a submarine.” Sigonella (Sicily) was different: “Low level and bumpy flights with a lot of surface traffic.” Warren graduated from Duke Law School in 1983 & is an environmental law/ land use attorney in Norfolk) Thor B-57 Davy Crockett Rocky Flats CO
*1957 SAC General LeMay: “I will know from my own intelligence whether or not the Russians are massing their planes…for a massive attack against the United States. If I come to that conclusion, I’m going to knock the s__t out of them before they get off the ground.No it’s not national policy,but it’s my policy.” • 1959-1968 Six B-52s with nuclear weapons crashed in Kentucky, N Carolina, California, Maryland, Spain & Greenland. *1961 Goldsboro NC; Def Sec McNamara “By the slightest margin of chance, literally the failure of 2 wires to cross, a nuclear Explosion was averted.” • 1965 Searcy AR 53 men killed Atlas II • 1980 Damascus AR personnel dropped an 8 lb socket 80 feet which initiated massive Titan II fuel leak; Airman killed CLOSE CALLS: 1960 NORAD maximum alert when Thule Greenland early warning radar reported “detected dozens of Soviet missiles- determined radar fooled by moonrise” 1961 Failure of an AT&T switch made SAC think attack was taking place so SAC ordered the entire B-52 alert force to ready for takeoff *Command & Control failures occurred in CO, WY & NJ due to bad switches, computer circuit cards, comp. chips, false alerts, human error 1983 Lt Col Stanislav Petrov was on watch at a missile early-warning command center outside Moscow when computer alarms warned of 5 incoming Minuteman missiles. He made the momentous decision to hold-off notifying his superiors, who might have ordered a retaliatory strike, since he had a gut feeling that it might be a false computer-generated alarm
Naval Nuclear Accidents • Sept 1958 Navy P-5M crash landed Puget Sound nuclear depth bomb still lost • July 1961, Soviet submarine Hotel K-19 reactor cooling system accident • April 1963 USS Thresher (SSN-593) sank with loss of crew of 129 • Feb. 1968 Soviet Golf II K-129 w/ nuclear missiles, torpedoes-83 lost
• May 1968 USS Scorpion (SSN-589) 99 lost • April 1970 November attack sub K-9 52 lost • Oct. 1986 Yankee K-219 missile tube explosion-3
1954 Dien Bien Phu 1965 USMC, 101st 1969 550,000 troops 1975 Frequent Wind The Vietnam War, film Ken Burns & Lynn Novick, PBS
Terrorist threats increased *US military personnel & their families at risk 1970s Germany: Red Army Faction-Bader Gang 1978 Italy: Red Brigade killed former Prime Minister Moro 1981 kidnapped US Army General Dozier in Verona 1982 Beirut Lebanon;truck bombs killed>300 US French troops 1986 FB-111 strikes on Benghazi Libya for the La Belle Discotheque bombing Nuclear Arms Agreements Helped Stabilize
• 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty- Kennedy-Khrushchev • 1972 Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty (SALT I); Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty Nixon-Brezhnev • 1979 SALT II Carter-Brezhnev • 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty Reagan-Gorbachev Lessons Learned from Cold War *Cherish Allies, Interoperability *Longterm regionl,global alliances *Deploy quickly, anywhere *Space;Anti-Submarine Warfare *Learn more about Adversaries; language,culture *Resilient Civil Defense *Cyberspace & Protecting technology ***Exit strategy Before Foreign Intervention Some Recommendations: • Daring Young Men-The Heroism and theTriumph of The Berlin Airlift June 1948-May 1949, Richard Reeves 2010 • Korea: the Unknown War PBS WGBH 980;Korea The Forgotten War History Channel 1987 • Hell in a Very Small Place-the Siege of Dien Bien Phu, Bernard Fall 1967 • Strategic Air Command, Jimmy Stewart 1955 • Twelve Days-(Hungarian Revolution 1956), Victor Sebestyen 2007 • Dr. Strangelove: How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love the Bomb, P. Sellers, Slim Pickens 1964 • The Bedford Incident, Richard Widmark 1965 • Thirteen Days, (film about the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis), directed by Roger Donaldson, 2000 • The Year of Living Dangerously (1965 Indonesia coup attempt)Peter Weir, Christophr Koch 1982 • The Vietnam War Ken Burns & Lynn Novick, PBS 2017; Vietnam-a History, Stanley Kornow 1983 • Chickenhawk (Vietnam “Huey” pilot memoir) Robert Mason 1983 • By Any Means Necessary: America's Secret Air War in the Cold War, William E. Burrows 2001 • War and Peace in the Nuclear Age, John Newhouse 1988 • Command &Control:Nuclear weapons,Damascus accident&Illusion of safety,Eric Schlosser 2013