Oral+History+Q's+and+Answers

**__Oral History Questions and answers:__**

**Can you describe yourself and your status in life in during the Cold War. What a events do you think lead the cold war happen?** Having been born in 1934, I was only thirteen years old when the Cold War is generally thought to have started or when it was first called “cold war” (1947). However, I have always had a keen interest in both national and international events. And since the Cold War lasted approximately 43 years, I had many opportunities to read about, and in a way, directly experience events of the Cold War. I was a student at St Joseph’s Grade School in Shawnee, Kansas when the Cold War started in 1947 and a business man in Winter Park, Fl. when it ended in 1990. In between, I finished high school, college (St Louis University), a year of law school, three plus years in the military as both an enlisted man and officer (Army), was married and blessed with five children. And in the years after military discharge in 1959, I was in the business world of real estate and construction. There is no doubt my military service at the end of the Korean War was a direct result of the Cold War in that the Korean War was thought of as a containment of Soviet communism.

Why was there a “Cold War” and what were the causal events? As long as people write about and discuss the Cold War, different theories will be advanced and all will probably have elements of truth and error. Without doubt, many events contributed to this extended period of extreme mistrust between the Soviet Union (USSR) and the western allies led by the US. But if the Cold War started in the mid-1940s, immediately following World War II during which the US and Russia were allies, then the events which led to this period must have occurred prior to 1940, a period of which I have little recollection. But from my own study of history, I would conclude that the greatest cause of the Cold War was the Soviet Union’s adoption of communism as its system of government, and its desire to spread its brand of communism and government throughout its area of the world. This, together with the west’s (led by the US) strong defense of democracy, led to this period of very strained relations called the Cold War. The atomic bombs that were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945 directly caused Japan to surrender. The huge death tolls and property destruction will forever be doubted as necessary to end the war, although many argue a continuation of the war would have resulted in a far greater number of casualties. Of course when the bombs were dropped, I was old enough to understand the enormous consequences of the US action. But at that time, we did not know of the deaths that would occur later from radiation poisoning and other causes. Do I think it was right? Yes I do, because I was aware at the time of the consequences of continuing the war in a conventional fashion. Those who look back now and judge the decision as wrong or immoral are using the facility of hindsight or second guessing; I am not impressed with their arguments.
 * Do you think it was right to drop the bombs on the Japan cities? Do you think the had the greatest impact on the Cold War beginning?**

There was a two plus year spread between the bombing of Japan and the start of the Cold War. In addition, Russia and the US were allies against Japan. I do not see how there can be any connection between the bombing of Japan and the Cold War except that the start of the Cold War may have been accelerated because World War II came to any earlier end because of the bombing.


 * Where were you during the cuban missile criss, what was it like there during the time?**

The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 stunned me, as well as most people. We had let down our guard after the Korean War ended; our intelligence services were either understaffed or staffed with incompetents. We were living in Milwaukee, I was building my real estate career and boom, here were Soviet missiles 90 miles from Florida (approximately 250 miles from Disney World; can you believe it?). Intolerable! We were at peace, the country was readjusting to a full peace time economy, and Russia floated in under our noses. If I may make a comparison, 9-11 was much the same. We again had let down our guard, let our intelligence services grow fat and lazy, mistakes we are still paying for today.


 * Do you think the U.S made the right decision in entering Vietnam?**

Do I think the US should have gone into Vietnam? No! It was a wrong decision backed by some manufactured evidence and some very faulty thinking. Though I did not support the decision, I would have gone to service if recalled. Even though I disagreed with the decision, once made, I believed it my duty to support the US. We lost 58,000 plus US troops in that non-war, including my closest friend from grade school; he was the first navy pilot downed in Vietnam. **What was your reaction to sputnik beginning launched?** Stunned! Frightened! Curious? How could Russia, which we viewed as all thumbs and still riding around on their ponies with ice skates, have put “sputnik” aloft in 1957? I was in the service, and we all wondered what this meant for us. We were just starting to fire surface to surface missiles (all a deep dark secret) and suddenly here was something that could fly around the globe. During the Cold War, the one thing I would have changed was our entry into Vietnam. I thought our response during the Berlin Crisis, and ultimately our actions related to the Cuban Missile affair were carried out well. I even believe the Korean War was the right action to take at that time. Underneath all these well publicized events was the hidden war carried out by individuals who attempted to escape the savagery of the USSR. I include the Berlin Wall here and all who were killed attempting to escape its confining of freedom. Fear! Confusion! Hatred! Misunderstanding! All these things I felt about the USSR. And as records are gradually unsealed in Russia and elsewhere, we are learning more about their dominance through force and fear. Today I still have a great distrust of Russia, the center of the USSR. They are again drifting away from individual freedom and liberty and I fear for that part of the world and our own, because I don’t know that things can be changed through diplomacy or by the will of a mostly powerless people. I pray it never again comes to armed conflict.
 * If the U.S had taken a different approach on the cold war, what would you change about our actions?**
 * What were your feelings towards the USSR?**

The Civil Rights Movement was a tremendous event (?) in US history. I never understood the treatment of blacks, or for that matter, why they were thought of as second class citizens by so many. I played basketball with them, served in the army with them, have been in business with them; some I liked very much and some I simply tolerated, in about the same ratio as with other races. The actions of Dr King are still to be celebrated and remembered, Rosa Parks and her bravery, the arguments over civil rights legislation, these are some things that stick out in my mind. ** During the time period what did you think about segregation?** As mentioned above, I thought segregation was immoral and illegal. And in a way, while I was quietly protesting by working to uplift blacks through housing programs, etc., I do regret that I was not more vocal or involved.  One of the things I would change about what the US was doing during the Cold War would have been increased intelligence and counterintelligence efforts. Soviet intelligence stole the atom bomb secrets from us, giving them better leverage during the Cold War. And obviously Soviet intelligence played a major role in placing missiles in Cuba. The other thing I would change about our actions during the Cold War was our entry into Vietnam. I was a mistake, a major mistake that caused us lost lives and the distrust of many Asian nations who saw the conflict as an internal affair, one in which the US had no vital interest . 
 * What events during the Civil Rights movement, stick out in your mind?**
 * If you could go back in time and change one event that happen to our country during the Cold War era, what would you change?**

Websites: May, Ernest. "John F Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis". bbc.co.uk. May 19, 2009 . Trueman, Chris. "The Cold War". The History Learning Site. May 19, 2009 .