Soviet Union: Eye Opener

U.S. views get on prime time

It began as a "casual balloon" launched by American physicians during a meeting with Anatoly Dobrynin, the Soviet Ambassador to the U.S. Asked the Americans: Why not have doctors from the two superpowers discuss on Soviet television the medical consequences of nuclear war? "Why not?" Dobrynin responded. The result, an unprecedented hourlong program watched by an estimated 50 million people, attracted so much interest that Soviet authorities rebroadcast it last week.

In keeping with an agreement reached before the broadcast, the panel avoided prickly questions of national policy. The American participants—Harvard University Cardiologists Bernard Lown...

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