Europe - Diplomatic Relations with the U.S., Soviet History - 1964-1991, 20th Century American History - Relations - General & Miscellaneous, Soviet History - General & Miscellaneous, Russia & Former Soviet Union - Diplomatic Relations, Ambassadors & Dipl

In Confidence

Name: In Confidence
Author: Anatoliy Fedorovich Dobrynin
ISBN: 9780812923285

by Anatoliy Fedorovich Dobrynin

Write a review

Overview

Anatoly Dobrynin arrived in Washington in 1962. He was only forty-three, the youngest man ever to serve as Soviet ambassador to the United States. Amazingly he remained in Washington through the presidencies of Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan. Dobrynin became the main back channel for the White House and the Kremlin to exchange ideas, negotiate in secret, and set up summit meetings. This arrangement became known as the confidential channel. Through this channel and his more public duties as ambassador he came to know the presidents, their most senior officials, and many members of the American establishment intimately. In Confidence is the story of those relationships. In Confidence is full of revelations that give us new insight into our own history, as well as into the saga of Soviet-American relations. To write it, Dobrynin spent months reviewing his own contemporary notes and official dispatches, as well as extensive material in the Foreign Ministry archives in Moscow. His memoir is an eyewitness document no student of the twentieth century can afford to miss.

Dobrynin, a close associate of U.S. presidents and Soviet premiers for 24 years, writes a first-hand account of both sides of the Cold War diplomatic struggle. "Informative, wise, even hilarious at times, with perceptive assessments of U.S. presidents."--Don Oberdorfer, diplomatic correspondent, The Washington Post.

Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Log in to write one.

Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This diplomatic history by the former Soviet ambassador to the U.S. from 1962 to 1986 casts the Cold War as a saga of missed opportunities and misunderstandings. Dobrynin believes that the ideologies of both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. perpetuated a wasteful, dangerous rivalry, and he blames the collapse of dtente on the growing influence of the Soviet military-industrial complex, Moscow's overextension (e.g., in Afghanistan), U.S. inflexibility in arms control and President Ronald Reagan's bellicosity. Paradoxically, Dobrynin also credits Reagan for opening a dialogue with Moscow during his second term. Drawing on his own unpublished diaries and archival research, the ex-ambassador charges that during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, Moscow made him an involuntary tool of deceit by keeping secret the deployment of Soviet intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Cuba. He also divulges that President Lyndon Johnson pushed for a negotiated end to the Vietnam War in 1965 whereby the U.S. would accept any government in South Vietnam, even if it eventually turned socialist. This monumental chronicle is a fundamental source on Soviet-American relations. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour. (Sept.)

Library Journal

Dobrynin, the Soviet ambassador to the United States from the Kennedy through Reagan administrations, here recounts vividly the many frightening Cold War episodes that linger in the collective memory of the international community. In moderate language, the diplomat who strove above all to maintain cordial relations between the two superpowers discusses the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, Afghanistan, and the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. The book's title refers to the "confidential channel" that began with Dobrynin and Bobby Kennedy testing each other out with ideas and fresh proposals via a more informal communications network. This channel bypassed much of the traditional foreign policy-making bureaucracy of both countries and allowed for greater flexibility among negotiators. Dobrynin's memoir reads surprisingly well for this type of book, even as he goes into detail about specific meetings, crises, and American and Soviet personalities. His opinions of the individual American presidents and foreign policy leaders may challenge one's notion of Cold War political heroes and goats. Highly recommended for larger public and all academic libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/95.]-Stephen W. Green, Auraria Lib., Denver

Booknews

Dobrynin was the Soviet ambassador to Washington from the Kennedy to the Reagan administrations, and became the confidential channel for informal discussions, secret negotiations, and arranging summit meetings, in addition to his public duties. His notes provide details of conversations, many of which only became important much later. A final chapter recounts his service under Gorbachev back home in Moscow. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Mary Carroll

For nearly a quarter of a century (196286), Dobrynin was the USSR's ambassador to the U.S. By establishing and maintaining one-on-one relationships of mutual trust with key players in each U.S. administration (and with the leaders and foreign ministers of his own government), Dobrynin operated a "confidential channel" between the leaders of the rival superpowers that no doubt helped keep the cold war from incinerating the planet. The Soviet ambassador's role in the 1962 Cuban missile crisis is well known; what he supplies here is fascinating detail about the role of secret diplomacy over several decades of U.S.-Soviet relations, as well as a thoughtful observer's assessment of the U.S. and Russian leaders and advisers whose communications he mediated. Readers who snap up the memoirs of U.S. negotiators such as Kissinger and Vance should value Dobrynin's view from the other side of the cold war fence.