The date is 1 March 1978. The event - a crisis simulation game in which soldiers, ex-diplomats and strategists, playing the parts of NATO ambassadors and heads of state, come together to handle an increasing threat by Warsaw Pact troops following revolution in a European State. Underlying the diplomatic arguments are the realities of the new nuclear technology which makes it all the more crucial that the right decisions are made.
James Burke presents the events in NATO as the crisis leads to a super-power confrontation. The players include:
Pierre Salinger , former Press Secretary to President Kennedy, as US President
Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, Chief of Staff IIQ BAOR 1965-67, as UK Prime Minister
General David Burchinal , former Deputy C-in-C, US Forces, Europe, as Supreme Commander, Europe
General Sir Victor Fitzgeorge -Balfour, former UK Representative on NATO Military Committee, as British Military Chief
J. H. Adam Watson, former British Ambassador to Cuba, as UK Ambassador to NATO
Ernest Gross, former member of US Delegation to UN, as US Ambassador to NATO
Col Marc Geneste , French Atomic Energy Authority, as French Ambassador to NATO
General F. E. Meijnderts , Member, International staff, Northag (NATO), Commander Dutch Corps, as Benelux Ambassador to NATO
Producers: JAMES BURKE, STUART HARRIS
Executive producer: KARL SABBAGH