Sabot Cat
Banned
"In the war game, former Senator Edmund S. Muskie takes the role of the President. James R. Schlesinger, a former Secretary of Defense, appears as the Secretary of Defense. Clark M. Clifford, another former Secretary of Defense, is the Secretary of State. Gen. Edward C. Meyer, who recently retired as Army Chief of Staff, plays the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They sit around a table, under a Presidential seal, along with other officials, and ponder the response to a Soviet invasion of Iran."
You can view it here:
https://archive.org/details/TheCrisisGameSegmentsOneAndTwo
https://archive.org/details/TheCrisisGameSegmentsThreeAndFour
@Usili found this, and it's as close to real life alternate history as I think you'll get, with real life Cabinet members and a President Muskie to boot tackling a hypothetical crisis in Iran. There's a plausible backstory about the entire country fracturing, with the Soviet Union moving, set in the then near-future of 1985.
Pictured above - President Edmund Muskie preparing to address the nation on the developing crisis in Iran, the map of the Iranian crisis, and a map from its later stages.
The New York Times goes into more detail:
"On the basis of a limited viewing - only short segments of the four-hour series were available to critics - ''The Crisis Game'' seems to be eminently worthwhile. It demystifies the decision-making process. It also shows us that wars do not just happen; they are stopped and started by men.
Thus the participants talk about ''options,'' ''assets'' and events at ''this point in time.'' When General Meyer announces that an American Awac has disappeared over Eastern Turkey, presumably shot down, Mr. Schlesinger says the United States should respond by destroying a Soviet plane. Mr. Clifford, in turn, suggests a ''formal, stern note,'' while William G. Hyland, a former security official, who appears as the Director of Central Intelligence, calls for negotiations through ''private channels.''
Mr. Schlesinger has offered the most hawkish response, of course, although later, when Mr. Clifford raises the possibility of a declaration of war, Mr. Schlesinger begs him to reconsider. It is a reminder that in secret conclaves of Government, debates may be more fluid and complex than they seem.
Meanwhile, viewers are free to speculate about why the former officials were willing to appear on television. Certainly they were moved in part by an urge to perform a public service, but it is possible there were psychic rewards for them, too - reassurance that the ''madness'' Mr. Wiesel feared may be controlled."
You can view it here:
https://archive.org/details/TheCrisisGameSegmentsOneAndTwo
https://archive.org/details/TheCrisisGameSegmentsThreeAndFour
@Usili found this, and it's as close to real life alternate history as I think you'll get, with real life Cabinet members and a President Muskie to boot tackling a hypothetical crisis in Iran. There's a plausible backstory about the entire country fracturing, with the Soviet Union moving, set in the then near-future of 1985.
Pictured above - President Edmund Muskie preparing to address the nation on the developing crisis in Iran, the map of the Iranian crisis, and a map from its later stages.
The New York Times goes into more detail:
"On the basis of a limited viewing - only short segments of the four-hour series were available to critics - ''The Crisis Game'' seems to be eminently worthwhile. It demystifies the decision-making process. It also shows us that wars do not just happen; they are stopped and started by men.
Thus the participants talk about ''options,'' ''assets'' and events at ''this point in time.'' When General Meyer announces that an American Awac has disappeared over Eastern Turkey, presumably shot down, Mr. Schlesinger says the United States should respond by destroying a Soviet plane. Mr. Clifford, in turn, suggests a ''formal, stern note,'' while William G. Hyland, a former security official, who appears as the Director of Central Intelligence, calls for negotiations through ''private channels.''
Mr. Schlesinger has offered the most hawkish response, of course, although later, when Mr. Clifford raises the possibility of a declaration of war, Mr. Schlesinger begs him to reconsider. It is a reminder that in secret conclaves of Government, debates may be more fluid and complex than they seem.
Meanwhile, viewers are free to speculate about why the former officials were willing to appear on television. Certainly they were moved in part by an urge to perform a public service, but it is possible there were psychic rewards for them, too - reassurance that the ''madness'' Mr. Wiesel feared may be controlled."
Last edited: