Russia & Former Soviet Union - Political Biography, Soviet History - 1964-1991, International Relations - General & Miscellaneous, U.S. Diplomatic Relations - General & Miscellaneous, Presidents of the United States - Biography, Soviet History - Political
Available on Bookshop
Write a review
Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Log in to track your reading progress.
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 significant unilateral troop reductions in 1988.
Through his recollections and unparalleled access to the best and latest sources, Matlock describes Reagan’s and Gorbachev’s initial views of each other. We learn how the two prepared for their meetings; we discover that Reagan occasionally wrote to Gorbachev in his own hand, both to personalize the correspondence and to prevent nit-picking by hard-liners in his administration. We also see how the two men were pushed closer together by the unlikeliest characters (Senator Ted Kennedy and François Mitterrand among them) and by the two leaders’ remarkable foreign ministers, George Shultz and Eduard Shevardnadze.
The end of the Cold War is a key event in modern history, one that demanded bold individuals and decisive action. Both epic and intimate, Reagan and Gorbachev will be the standard reference, a work that is critical to our understanding of the present and the past.
From the Hardcover edition.
Synopsis
“[Matlock’s] account of Reagan’s achievement as the nation’s diplomat in chief is a public service.”—The New York Times Book Review “Engrossing . . . authoritative . . . a detailed and reliable narrative that future historians will be able to draw on to illuminate one of the most dramatic periods in modern history.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review In Reagan and Gorbachev, Jack F. Matlock, Jr., a former U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R. and principal adviser to Ronald Reagan on Soviet and European affairs, gives an eyewitness account of how the Cold War ended. Working from his own papers, recent interviews with major figures, and unparalleled access to the best and latest sources, Matlock offers an insider’s perspective on a diplomatic campaign far more sophisticated than previously thought, waged by two leaders of surpassing vision. Matlock details how Reagan privately pursued improved U.S.-U.S.S.R. relations even while engaging in public saber rattling. When Gorbachev assumed leadership, however, Reagan and his advisers found a willing partner in peace. Matlock shows how both leaders took risks that yielded great rewards and offers unprecedented insight into the often cordial working relationship between Reagan and Gorbachev. Both epic and intimate, Reagan and Gorbachev will be the standard reference on the end of the Cold War, a work that is critical to our understanding of the present and the past.Editorials
Strobe Talbott
The 40th president of the United States emerges here not as a geopolitical visionary who jettisoned the supposedly accommodationist policies of containment and detente, but as an archpragmatist and operational optimist who adjusted his own attitudes and conduct in order to encourage a new kind of Kremlin leader … While Matlock could have been more charitable to Reagan's predecessors and to his immediate successor, his account of Reagan's achievement as the nation's diplomat in chief is a public service as well as a contribution to the historical record. It is simultaneously admiring, authoritative and conscientious.— The New York Times
Robert G. Kaiser
Diplomacy is [Matlock's] game, and students of that art form will learn a good deal from this book. Together with Shultz's memoir, Reagan and Gorbachev memorializes a time of triumph for American diplomacy, and a joint Soviet-American victory over half a century of costly, ultimately counterproductive rivalry.— The Washington Post
Foreign Affairs
Matlock, Ronald Reagan's White House adviser and then ambassador to the Soviet Union, contributes significantly to an already considerable memoir literature on the end of the Cold War by providing a great deal of detail on the diplomacy on both sides, particularly the meetings between Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. Reagan is the hero of his tale: wiser, more on top of essentials, and ready to improve relations earlier than is commonly thought. Casper Weinberger, William Casey, and other hard-liners are the villains, stubbornly resisting and sometimes even sabotaging efforts to get the ball rolling even before Gorbachev comes to power. Gorbachev himself comes off as vigorous and eager to change the dynamic between the two countries, but less flexible, less innovative conceptually, and less formidable a match for Reagan than in most portrayals. Only in Reagan's last two years do the real breakthroughs occur; Matlock lets the reader see why it took so long.Library Journal
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.From the Publisher
Praise for Autopsy on an Empire“A superb analysis of the achievements and problems of the Soviet system and a fascinating account of the people and events that brought its collapse . . . Matlock writes with the authority of long years of service in Moscow, and at the State Department and the National Security Council. His close-up view of the most important events of our century is the unique product of careful scholarship and an extraordinary diplomatic career.”
–HERBERT J. ELLISON, professor of Russian history, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington
“No person is better equipped to describe the extraordinary change from the Soviet Union into Russia than Ambassador Matlock. His background in Russian history, language, culture, literature, and politics makes him one of the world’s outstanding authorities on the question. . . . [Matlock] knows practically all of the people about whom he is writing and conveys their character, prejudices, strengths, and shortcomings in vivid colors.”
–MAX M. KAMPELMAN, former counselor of the Department of State and U.S. nuclear arms control negotiator
“No other American had the opportunity to observe the Soviet government’s collapse at such close range. Thanks to Ambassador Matlock’s excellent contacts and mature judgment, his book represents a unique record of this historic event.”
–RICHARD PIPES, Frank Baird, Jr., Professor of History Emeritus, Harvard University
From the Hardcover edition.
Book Details
Published
July 20, 2004
Publisher
Random House Publishing Group
Pages
384
ISBN
9781588364258