The person that i interview was Hayle Knust, she was born in september 18 of 1953, she lived
in Chicago between 1945 and 1989, the interview was in september 27 of 2013 at
the 3:30pm with a duration of one hour and fifteen minutes.
1. What was the first time you remember hearing about the
Soviet Union (or the USSR) and its conflict with the United States? Tell me
about it.
The first time that Hayle heard about the conflict between
the Soviet Union and the United States, was when she was in high school, as the
tension created by this conflict came to all sectors of the country, and the
children also were informed of this.
2. What do you remember seeing or reading in the news about
the Cold War?
She remembers when the newspapers all the news focused on
the Cold War were treated on arms races of the two nations, where the project
progressed at an impressive rate, as the two were creating nuclear weapons, and
also what is the space program.
3. What books did you read or movies did you watch that
villainized the Soviet Union or dealt with the Cold War? How did they shape
your impressions at that time?
She says she does not remember having read any specific book
which villainized the Soviet Union, but a lot of movies in which the Soviet Union
was painted as the bad guys, and some where they showed some future
consequences if the union won the war.
4. What were you taught in school and at home about the
Soviet Union? What did your school and family teach about nuclear threats and
nuclear war?
She always thought both at home and at school that soviet
union wanted to control the world and imparter global communism, this being one
of their biggest fears. In his school had some evacuation plans if ever there
was any attack and at home the place that his father be the safest thought this
was the basement.
5. Were you or any of your family members ever afraid that
there would be a hot war or nuclear war between the United States and the
Soviet Union? When did you feel that way? If yes, did you do anything to
prepare or get ready for it?
Actually, she never felt that nuclear war would begin, she
was very scared, but even her father predicted that this problem would only
isolated actions.
6. What aspects of the Space Race do you remember? Was
"Space Race" a phrase that you remember using at the time? What did
it mean to you?
When spoken of the Space Race, she remembers that it was one
of the issues mentioned in the newspapers more, where they said at that time it
was impossible to reach the moon but the United States followed with its
efforts to achieve this goal, since according Soviet union had already made
several attempts with their ships. According to her in that time I have heard
the terminology reminds Space Race, but it signifies the commitment of the two
countries both to innovate and reach the space where no one else had gone
before.
7. How was the rivalry between the United States and the
Soviet Union promoted in sports? Can you think of any specific examples?
When asked, she replied that she remembers is that in the
Olympic Games there was always a rivalry between the two nations, where winning
the Olympics was a symbol of power.
8. Do you remember the Berlin Wall coming down? How did it
make you feel? How have your feelings about that era changed since 1989 and the
Berlin Wall coming down?
Yes, she did. She felt like this was just another attempt to
prove superiority over the other country, a very presumptuous act. But at the
time, she felt relieved because I thought that this would be one of the final
acts so that the wars could end. But today, she feel like that was not the
case, it was simply political propaganda.
9. How do you think future generations will remember the
Cold War? What lessons should students today take away from the Cold War?
She thinks that future generations will remember this as
another war for superiority, but where there were no fights, but always kept the
people in fear. This war will serve for students to learn to use diplomacy to
resolve situations like this.
10. How does psychological warfare today compare to
psychological warfare during the Cold War?
The psychology of war is different for each of them, and in
this case the Cold War psychology was thinking everything carefully, as any act
could cause irremediable situations.
11. Why do you think that none of the two nations launched a
military attack?
She thinks that none of the two nations wanted to start a
war with military incursions, because after that either initiates an attack
with the arms race that they had serious devastation on a large scale, this
would be the worst war ever seen.
12. Do you think that another war like this can happen?
According to her it is unlikely that a war will be repeated
with the same features, as the world moves and all wars are different, and with
the technology of today and will be technological wars, I mean that will all
differ from those that have already occurred .
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What from the interview did I find most
surprising?
What I found most surprising in this interview is that she
was able to answer all questions clearly, and above all always thought she
never would give a genuine war between the two nations, as if I had lived it
would have been really scared at this time to know that any day could start a
war.
Ø
How might a Russian adult have responded to the
interview?
