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Revisiting the Cuban Missile Crisis

Head of the National Security Archive Tom Blanton helped research "The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962," scheduled for release today, thirty years after the incident. In the book, newly released documents and top-secret files reveal how close the U.S. came to a nuclear entanglement. In 1987, the National Security Archive filed suit against the U.S. government for failing to produce the documents they requested. Since then, there has been more compliance with the archive, especially since the Russian government has agreed to allow the U.S. to release the Kennedy-Krushchev letters.

46:02
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Other segments from the episode on October 15, 1992

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, October 15, 1992: Interview with Tom Blanton; Review of the television show "Gilligan's Island."
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03:57

The First Draft of "Gilligan's Island"

TV critic David Bianculli review the original pilot of "Gilligan's Island," which will be broadcast for the first time. He says it might be worse than the original.

Review

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42:04

Peter Kornbluh

The Cuban Missile Crisis took place 40 years ago this week. We talk with historian and former Kennedy aide Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. and Peter Kornbluh who directs the National Security Archive's Cuba Project. The organization obtained newly declassified documents about the Crisis. They've published the information in the new book The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962. The National Security Archive also helped organize the historic 40th anniversary conference held in Cuba last week.

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