The UCI Libraries have launched a new resource showcasing “The Quest for Peace Interviews 1983-1989,” a collection of half-hour interviews conducted during the Cold War Era with some of the most informed, influential, and thoughtful people from the United States, the former Soviet Union, and other countries around the world.

Reflecting on the pursuit of world peace in the nuclear age, participants interviewed include a wide range of experts – including Condoleezza Rice, Norman Cousins, Donald Rumsfeld, Barry M. Goldwater, B.F. Skinner, and Julian Bond who examined topics such as the fundamentals of national security and the roles of human nature, religion, government, business, education, and the family in creating the environment necessary to attain and maintain world and personal peace.

The interviews were conceived and conducted between 1983 and1989 by UCI’s John M. Whiteley, a Professor of Environmental Health, Science, and Policy in the School of Social Ecology who has been involved in increasing cooperation and dialogue among community members and scholars in Irvine and their counterparts in the former Soviet Union for over 20 years.

The original videotaped interviews were broadcast on PBS and cable television stations reaching 28 million households in 47 states. They are now digitized and available to the public via the “Quest for Peace” website. Additional digitized interviews and transcripts will be added to the site as they are created.

The Quest for Peace project is a collaboration of the Libraries with Professor Whiteley, the Teaching, Learning and Technology Center, and Network and Academic Computing Services. For more information, please contact Julia Gelfand at 949.824.4971 or jgelfand@uci.edu or Dan Tsang at 949.824.4978 or dtsang@uci.edu.