Powers of the President: Foreign Policy: Carter and Reagan

Synopsis

The bulk of the programme consists of interviews of US presidents by Hugh Sidey, contributing editor of ‘Time’ magazine. The Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution made four programmes, with one president featured in each, which were originally broadcast in the USA on PBS in 1991 and 1992. The OU version intercuts the Commission’s programmes around subject areas in order to contextualise the interviews in terms of their historical context and the wider political debate. Some of the incidents mentioned are illustrated by archive materials.
In this programme President Carter gives his account of his Middle East diplomacy and the Camp David accords, the Iranian hostage crisis (including the failure of the ‘Desert One’ rescue attempt), the Panama Canal Treaty and the invasion of Afghanistan. President Reagan discusses Star Wars, the ‘evil empire’ speech, the Rekjavik and Geneva summits, Nicaragua and ‘Irangate’.

Series

United States in the Twentieth Century, The: Course D214

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Medium

Video; Videocassette. Standard formats. col. 49 min.

Year of production

1994

Availability

Off-air recording licence
Sale; 1998 sale: £195.00 (+VAT +p&p)

Subjects

Politics & government

Keywords

international relations; United States of America

Credits

Producer

Jeremy Cooper

Cast

Richard Maidment

Production Company

Name

BBC Open University Productions

Distributor

Name

Open University Worldwide

Web

http://www.ouw.co.uk External site opens in new window

Phone

+44 (0) 1908 274066

Address

Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA

Notes

NB. As of May 2016 Open University Worldwide are no longer distributing DVDs. They have posted this message on their website: ‘Unfortunately Open University Worldwide Limited has decided that product sales are no longer viable given the reduced funding to Higher Education institutions and diminishing demand for the products we have traditionally stocked. At present the Open University Students Association (OUSA) will continue to sell the "Good Study Guide", and we are in discussion with other possible distributors to continue to make The Open University’s products available for purchase. As soon as we have any information on other channels of distribution we will update this notice’. Some products are still available via second hand dealers on Amazon.co.uk