Episode 301 GEORGE H. W. BUSH The Soviet Coup (Part 1) Caught by Surprise

George H.W. Bush 1991 The Fall of the Soviet Union

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On August 19, 1991, George H. W. Bush was woken up just after midnight to be told that Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned suddenly for health reasons as the President of the Soviet Union. That did not sound right to anyone.
What unfolded for the next three days was the entire world watching the unraveling of one of the two Super Powers of the past half century. Gorbachev was placed under house arrest in his Black Sea Dacha, and his vice President and the leaders of the KGB and the Army took over the country.
However, the coup was poorly conceived, poorly managed, and the plotters were often unwilling to to the things necessary to secure control of the country. They also miscalculated how much the reforms that Gorbachev had set forward in the Soviet Union had actually taken hold. The people were resisting the take over and a leader emerged who stood up against it all.
His name was Boris Yeltsin. This is the story of those three days in the next three episodes. It was a historic three days that changed the World.

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1. The Coup that killed the USSR - Radio Free Europe (segment from report) (00:00:00)

2. Music Intro (00:02:42)

3. Remembering the Overthrow of Gorbachev 20 years later (segment) from the PBS Newshour (00:03:06)

4. Host Randal Wallace welcomes you tot he show and talks about the Coup in 1991 (00:07:00)

5. William Toubman talks about the coup C-Span - Harvard Political Scientist expert on Soviet Union (00:09:17)

6. Host Randal Wallace reads entry from the Diary of George H. W. Bush August 20, 1991 (00:14:00)

7. ABC News Special Report coverage of the Soviet Union Coup , this was spposed to cover a press conference that ended up not occurring (00:16:26)

8. ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings coverage of the first day of the Soviet Coup August 19, 1991 (00:31:59)

9. Closing music (00:45:29)