About the Program
Mr. Kempe analyzes one of the most significant stand-offs of the Cold War era: the attempt of the Kennedy administration to prevent the Soviets from building a wall in Berlin to stop the flow of refugees from East Germany to West. The head of the Atlantic Council uses newly discovered facts to describe a period of turbulence in U.S.-Soviet relations that began with the Bay of Pigs, continued in the Vienna Summit between President Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev and culminated with the construction of the Berlin Wall. He discusses the period and the lessons it may lend to current U.S. foreign policy with the Director of Georgetown's Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies, Angela Stent.