The year is 1984. The height of the "Second Cold War", a period in which superpower relations between the United States of America and the Soviet Union dramatically soured. President Ronald Reagan, who had cruised into the presidency on a strong foreign policy and defense platform, faced a succession of ageing Russian leaders. In 1983, dubbed by some historians as 'the most dangerous year of the Cold War', a number of crises had brought East and West at arms' length of a hot war. In this context, a Maryland insurance salesman by the name of Tom Clancy had convinced the U.S. Naval Institute Press to publish his (and their) first work of fiction, "The Hunt for Red October".
Popularized by President Reagan's casual reference to the book - and more so, the 1990 movie adaptation featuring Sean Connery as the Soviet submarine's captain and Alec Baldwin as civilian naval analyst who should have written that memo instead, Dr. Jack Ryan - the subject and the novel became instant hits with wide audiences. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the book's publication, the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (ISPK) conducts a virtual expert roundtable that aims to explore some of the continuous lessons and themes from “The Hunt for Red October".
Agenda:
Welcome, Introduction & Chair
Dr. Sebastian Bruns, Senior Researcher ISPK and fmr McCain-Fulbright Distinguished Visiting Professor, United States Naval Academy
The Submarine Mythos and 'Red October' - A Broad Historical Perspective
Dr. Keith Bird, Naval Historian, Pawley's Island, SC
Reagan's War Stories
LTC Benjamin Griffin, Division Chief Military History, United States Military Academy West Point, NY and author, "Reagan's War Stories: A Cold War Presidency" (Naval Institute Press 2022)
One ping only? An Operator's Perspective
CAPT (ret.) Michael Setzer, President of the German Submariner's Association
​​​​​​​The sessions and the Q&A will be conducted in English and is on the record.
