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Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended

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Overview

In Reagan and Gorbachev, Jack F. Matlock, Jr., gives an eyewitness account of how the Cold War ended, with humankind declared the winner. As Reagan's principal adviser on Soviet and European affairs, and later as the U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R., Matlock lived history: He was the point person for Reagan's evolving policy of conciliation toward the Soviet Union. Working from his own papers, recent interviews with major figures, and archival sources both here and abroad, Matlock offers an insider's perspective on a diplomatic campaign far more sophisticated than previously thought, led by two men of surpassing vision. Matlock details how, from the start of his term, Reagan privately pursued improved U.S.-U.S.S.R. relations, while rebuilding America's military and fighting will in order to confront the Soviet Union while providing bargaining chips. When Gorbachev assumed leadership, however, Reagan and his advisers found a potential partner in the enterprise of peace. At first the two leaders sparred, agreeing on little. Gradually a form of trust emerged, with Gorbachev taking politically risky steps that bore long-term benefits, like the agreement to abolish intermediate-range nuclear missiles and the agreement to abolish intermediate-range nuclear missiles and the U.S.S.R.'s

Editorial Reviews

As a top National Security Council aide to President Reagan from 1983 to 1986 and the U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1986 to 1991, Soviet expert Matlock was a firsthand witness to the end of the Cold War. Based upon his notes and recollections, interviews with many of the principals, and research in English and Russian sources, this book is an account of the summit diplomacy of Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, men whose pragmatism, stature, and skill were essential, judges Matlock, to ending their countries' nuclear standoff. The broad story of the Cold War's end, however, can be found in quite a few other books, including Matlock's own Autopsy on an Empire (1995), and with the recent death of Reagan, before long it will surely be told and retold again. Although a witness to history, Matlock is not such a gifted writer that the detail he adds here will be enough to draw and hold any but dedicated readers. An optional choice for public and academic libraries building deep collections on the topic.-Robert F. Nardini, Chichester, NH Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Jack F. Matlock

First posted to Moscow in 1961, career diplomat JACK F. MATLOCK, JR., was Americaýs man on the scene for most of the Cold War. A scholar of Russian history and culture, Matlock was President Reaganýs choice for the crucial post of ambassador to the Soviet Union. He is the author of Autopsy on an Empire: The American Ambassadorýs Account of the Collapse of the Soviet Union. Matlock now divides his time between Princeton, New Jersey, and his wifeýs farm in Booneville, Tennessee.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Random House

Filesize

1.40 MB

Number of Pages

384

eBook ISBN

9781588364258

Excerpt from: Reagan and Gorbachev by Jack F. Matlock

1981-82

REAGAN'S CHALLENGE

And I have to believe that our greatest goal must be peace.

ýRONALD REAGAN, June 16, 19811

I've always recognized that ultimately there's got to be a settlement, a solution.

ýRONALD REAGAN, December 23, 19812

[A] Soviet leadership devoted to improving its people's lives, rather than expanding its armed conquests, will find a sympathetic partner in the West.

ýRONALD REAGAN, May 9, 19823

READERS MAY SUSPECT that the dates of the quotations set forth above are mistaken. After all, doesn't everyone know that President Reagan spent his first term bashing the Soviet Union and showed an interest in serious negotiations only in his second term? Such is the myth that has developed of late.

The dates are correct. All of the remarks quoted were made during the first eighteen months of Reagan's first administration. And they were not exceptional. These thoughts were present or clearly implied in virtually everything Reagan and his first secretary of state, Alexander Haig, said about relations with the Soviet Union from the outset of their terms in office.

Of course, these were not the only thoughts they expressed. Other statements, particularly when taken out of context, gave rise to the distorted impression that came to prevail in American and foreign opinion. Let us look carefully at what President Reagan said and how he said it.

During his first press conference as president, on January 29, 1981, Reagan stated that he was in favor of negotiating to achieve "an actual reduction in the numbers of nuclear weapons" on a basis that would be verifiable. He also declared that during any negotiation one had to take into account "other things that are going on," and for that reason he believed in "linkage."

A journalist asked what he thought of "the long-range intentions of the Soviet Union" and whether "the Kremlin is bent on world domination that might lead to a continuation of the cold war" or whether "under other circumstances dýtente is possible." Addressing this convoluted question, Reagan replied that "so far dýtente has been a one-way street that the Soviet Union has used to pursue its own aims," and that as far as Soviet intentions are concerned, their leaders have consistently said that "their goal must be the promotion of world revolution and a one-world Socialist or Communist state."

Then he went on to add: "Now, as long as they do that and as long as they, at the same time, have openly and publicly declared that the only morality they recognize is what will further their cause, meaning they reserve unto themselves the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat, in order to attain that, and that is moral, not immoral, and we operate on a different set of standards, I think when you do business with them, even at a dýtente, you keep that in mind."