Three Days in Moscow

by Bret Baier

  “In my experience”: Author interview with Charles Black, November 13, 2017.

  On one occasion: Howard Baker, oral history with Stephen Knott, August 24, 2004, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “That was right”: Martin Anderson, oral history with Jim Young, December 11 and 12, 2001, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “Herbert Hoover with a smile”: Hugh Sidey, “The Art of Political Insult,” Time, June 20, 1983.

  “I was kind of”: Max Friedersdorf, oral history with Stephen Knott et al., October 24 and 25, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “I thought we had”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life.

  He was a uniter: Author interview with Kenneth Duberstein, August 22, 2017.

  “Reagan found the formula”: Ibid.

  “bird in a gilded cage”: Ronald Reagan, The Reagan Diaries, ed. Douglas Brinkley (New York: HarperCollins, 2007).

  In the confusing early moments: Michael Deaver, oral history with Jim Young et al., September 12, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “Reagan had a habit”: Ibid.

  “Honey, I forgot”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn.

  “Constitutionally, gentlemen”: Caspar Weinberger, oral history with Stephen Knott, November 19, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “George Bush struck”: William Safire, “Essay: One Fell Short,” New York Times, April 2, 1981.

  As the historian Jon Meacham: Jon Meacham, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush (New York: Random House, 2015).

  “The crisis had passed”: Ibid.

  Strom Thurmond managed: Max Friedersdorf, oral history with Stephen Knott et al., October 24 and 25, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “It’s amazing how sound”: Ronald Reagan, The Reagan Diaries.

  Shultz was in London: George P. Shultz, oral history with Stephen Knott and Jim Young, December 18, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  Chapter 5: The Trumpet Call

  “just purring along”: Martin Anderson, oral history with Jim Young, December 11 and 12, 2001, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  A month earlier: Michael Deaver, oral history with Jim Young et al., September 12, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “I write for the ear”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life.

  “Sometimes, speech writers”: Ibid.

  “The Soviet Union would remain”: Ronald Reagan, The Humor of Ronald Reagan: Quips, Jokes and Anecdotes from the Great Communicator, ed. Malcolm Kushner (Menasha, WI: Museum of Humor Press, 2011).

  “By the way”: Ibid.

  “We have every right”: Ronald Reagan, “First Inaugural Address,” January 20, 1981, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.

  “If you don’t have any strength”: Author interview with George P. Shultz, December 2, 2017.

  But walking back: Richard Allen, oral history with Stephen Knott, May 28, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “It called to mind”: George Will, letter to Ronald Reagan, May 18, 1982, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “We had a truck”: Author interview with Anthony Dolan, May 2, 2017.

  “They always thought”: Ibid.

  “We’re approaching the end”: Robert C. Rowland and John M. Jones, Reagan at Westminster: Foreshadowing the End of the Cold War (College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2010).

  was “remarkable”: Margaret Thatcher, The Downing Street Years (New York: HarperCollins, 1993).

  “Of course”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life.

  In one late-night: Michael Deaver, oral history with Jim Young et al., September 12, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library; also, text of call in declassified NSC papers, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  The general media reaction: Rowland and Jones, Reagan at Westminster.

  “One of my jobs there”: Author interview with George P. Shultz, December 2, 2017

  “They are in very bad”: Ronald Reagan, The Reagan Diaries, ed. Douglas Brinkley (New York: HarperCollins, 2007).

  “If we truly believe”: Ronald Reagan, Reagan, In His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan that Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America, ed. Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson, and Martin Anderson (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001).

  “Reagan’s view was”: Kenneth Adelman, oral history with Stephen Knott, September 30, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “psychological optimism”: Charles Krauthammer, “Ash Heap of History: Reagan’s Westminster Address 20 Years Later,” Remarks made at a panel discussion held at the Heritage Foundation, June 3, 2002.

  “Bill, I never met”: William P. Clark, oral history with Stephen Knott, August 17, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “Do you think”: Reagan, An American Life.

  “I strongly feel”: Letter from Nixon to Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “There was no question”: Ronald Reagan, Press Conference, November 11, 1982, The American Presidency Project.

  “The d—n media”: Ronald Reagan, The Reagan Diaries.

  Robert P. Dugan, Jr.: Letter to Ronald Reagan, December 3, 1982, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  In preparing for the event: Aram Bakshian, oral history with Stephen Knott, January 14, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “Long after I left”: Ibid.

  Among the lines excised: Author interview with Anthony Dolan, May 2, 2017.

  “The greatest evil”: C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1942).

  When Bakshian saw the draft: Aram Bakshian, oral history with Stephen Knott, January 14, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “terms so strong”: David Gergen, Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership; Nixon to Clinton (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000).

  “Just send him the draft”: Author interview with Anthony Dolan, May 2, 2017.

  “I kept wondering”: Gergen, Eyewitness to Power.

  “Once he [the president] saw”: Aram Bakshian, oral history with Stephen Knott, January 14, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “I hate to admit it”: Gergen, Eyewitness to Power.

  “The other day”: Ronald Reagan, “Remarks at the Annual Convention of the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida,” March 8, 1983, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  What Bakshian called: Aram Bakshian, oral history with Stephen Knott, January 14, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  Nancy Reagan, who frequently: Nancy Reagan, My Turn.

  In the New York Times: Anthony Lewis, “Abroad at Home; Onward, Christian Soldiers,” New York Times, March 10, 1983.

  “ ‘You’ve destroyed twenty years’ ”: Caspar Weinberger, oral history with Stephen Knott, November 19, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “a passive containment”: Ibid.

  “marks a revival”: Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., “Pretension in the Presidential Pulpit,” Wall Street Journal, March 17, 1983.

  “Dear Mr. Willoughby”: Ronald Reagan, letter to William W
illoughby, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  Reagan introduced: Ronald Reagan, “Address to the Nation on Defense and National Security,” March 23, 1983, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.

  “He didn’t share that”: Kenneth Adelman, oral history with Stephen Knott, September 30, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  As he told Edward Rowny: Edward Rowny, oral history with Stephen Knott, March 17, 2016, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “We get your dust”: James Haggerty, oral history with Ed Edwin, March 2, 1967, Columbia University Oral History Project, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library.

  “it left me greatly depressed”: Ronald Reagan, The Reagan Diaries.

  “I feel the Soviets”: Ibid.

  Chapter 6: Ron and Mikhail

  “There is a bear”: Ronald Reagan TV ad: “The Bear,” video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpwdcmjBgNA.

  “Throughout this whole period”: Stuart Spencer, oral history with Jim Young et al., November 15 and 16, 2001, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “In the beginning”: George J. Church, “Men of the Year: Ronald Reagan and Yuri Andropov,” Time, January 2, 1984.

  “I believe that 1984”: Ronald Reagan, “Address to the Nation and Other Countries on United States-Soviet Relations,” January 16, 1984, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  Even though Mondale: Peter J. Wallison, Ronald Reagan: The Power of Conviction and the Success of His Presidency (New York: Basic Books, 2004); see also Walter Mondale, The Good Fight: A Life in Liberal Politics (New York: Scribner, 2010).

  “You already are”: 1984 1st Presidential Debate: Reagan vs. Mondale, C-Span Historical Archives.

  “If TV can tell”: Walter Mondale, interview with Jim Lehrer, The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, May 25, 1990.

  “I’d have been having”: Peter Robinson, How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life (New York: Harper, 2003).

  “He was a Californian”: Caspar Weinberger, oral history with Stephen Knott, November 19, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “I’d lay my phone”: Kathleen Osborne, oral history with Jim Young and Stephen Knott, April 26, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “Whisper peace”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn.

  “There were no visible signs”: Lou Cannon, “Reagan, Gromyko Meet in ‘Exchange of Views,’ ” Washington Post, September 29, 1984.

  “You ain’t seen nothing yet”: Anthony Lewis, “Abroad at Home; ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,’ ” New York Times, November 8, 1984.

  Over lunch, Thatcher related: “Thatcher-Reagan Meeting at Camp David,” record of conversation, December 28, 1984, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  The public inaugural was scheduled: Francis X. Clines, “Reagan Sworn in for 2nd Term; Inaugural Parade Dropped as Bitter Cold Hits Capital,” New York Times, January 21, 1985.

  “Today, we utter”: Ronald Reagan, “Inaugural Address,” January 21, 1985, The American Presidency Project; http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=38688.

  But he had a warning: Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union, February 6, 1985. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.

  “Regan spends an hour”: Max Friedersdorf, oral history with Stephen Knott et al., October 24 and 25, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “They keep dying”: Jason Saltoun-Ebin, Dear Mr. President . . . : Reagan/Gorbachev and the Correspondence That Ended the Cold War (CreateSpace, 2011).

  “Do not rush”: Paul Kengor, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism (New York: Harper, 2006).

  “We were poor”: Mikhail Gorbachev, Memoirs (New York: Doubleday, 1996).

  “She bewitched me”: Ibid.

  “We have a division”: Maureen Dowd, “The Iceland Summit: Charm and Cough Drops; Raisa Gorbachev’s Reyjkavik Visit: A Public Relations Coup for Moscow,” New York Times, October 12, 1986.

  “A dead-end political situation”: Mikhail Gorbachev, The New Russia (Cambridge, UK: Polity Books, 2016).

  “The people were happy”: Gorbachev, Memoirs.

  “One of the most crucial”: Andrei Grachev, Gorbachev’s Gamble: Soviet Foreign Policy and the End of the Cold War (New York: Wiley, 2008).

  A secret poll: Charles W. Dunn, ed., The Enduring Reagan (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2009).

  “Those old verities”: Ronald Reagan, “Address Before a Joint Session of the Irish National Parliament,” June 4, 1984, The American Presidency Project.

  “However strange it may seem”: Grachev, Gorbachev’s Gamble.

  “You can be assured”: Saltoun-Ebin, Dear Mr. President.

  “It is not an easy task”: Ibid.

  “His strongest suit”: George P. Shultz, oral history with Stephen Knott, Jim Young, et al., December 18, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “I was strongly opposed”: Caspar Weinberger, oral history with Stephen Knott, November 19, 2002, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  There was only one condition: Donald T. Regan, For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington (New York: Random House, 1990).

  “They’re not going”: Loretta Tofani, “Regan ‘Misspoke’ in Remarks on Women,” Washington Post, November 25, 1985.

  His staff felt less assured: Kenneth Adelman, oral history with Stephen Knott, September 30, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “The juices were flowing”: Ronald Reagan, The Reagan Diaries, ed. Douglas Brinkley (New York: HarperCollins, 2007).

  Reagan was tired: Kenneth Adelman, oral history with Stephen Knott, September 30, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  It was bitterly cold: James Kuhn, oral history with Stephen Knott, March 7, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “He comes down the stairs”: Kenneth Adelman, oral history with Stephen Knott, September 30, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  The optics of it: “Reagan,” American Experience, PBS, February 23, 1998.

  “He used to drive”: Frank Carlucci, oral history with Phillip Zukow, Stephen Knott, and Don Oberdorfer, August 28, 2001, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  Outside, Don Regan: James Kuhn, oral history with Stephen Knott, March 7, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “Are you out”: George P. Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of State (New York: Scribner, 1993).

  Through interpreters: Memorandum of Conversation, Reagan-Gorbachev Meetings in Geneva, First Plenary Meeting, November 19, 1985, The White House/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “Dad, you’re late”: Kenneth Adelman, oral history with Stephen Knott, September 30, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “When he came out”: Kenneth Adelman, oral history with Stephen Knott, September 30, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “Well, he’s a new kind”: Ibid.

  In reply, Gorbachev opened: Memorandum of Conversation, Reagan-Gorbachev Meetings in Geneva, Second Plenary Meeting, November 19, 1985, The White House/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  Adelman felt that: Kenneth Adelman, oral history with Stephen Knott, September 30, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  There was a boathouse: Ibid.

  Reagan made a personal appeal: Memorandum of Conversation, Reagan-Gorbachev Meetings in Geneva, Second Private Meeting, November 19, 1985, The White House/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  As they walked back: Ibid.

  Shultz observed that: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph.

  their wives were having: Memorandum of Conversation, Mrs. Reagan’s Tea for Mrs. Gorbachev, November 19, 1985, The White House/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “That Raisa Gorbachev is”: Michael R. Beschloss, Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789–1989 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008).

  “Mr. President, I have to”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph.

  “Suddenly everyone was talking”: Ibid.

  On Wednesday: Memorandum of Conversation, Reagan-Gorbachev Meetings in Geneva, Third Private Meeting, November 20, 1985, The White House/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “We’ll share SDI with you”: Memorandum of Conversation, Reagan-Gorbachev Meetings in Geneva, Third Plenary Meeting, November 20, 1985, The White House/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “Gorbachev thought it was whacko”: Kenneth Adelman, oral history with Stephen Knott, September 30, 2003, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, UVA Miller Center/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “He was intense”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph.

  “I just thought”: Ibid.

  “maybe there was a little”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life.

  “As I flew back”: Ronald Reagan, “Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress following the Soviet–United States Summit Meeting in Geneva,” Nov. 21, 1985, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  Chapter 7: Iceland Freeze

  Letters flew back and forth: Jason Saltoun-Ebin, Dear Mr. President . . . : Reagan/Gorbachev and the Correspondence That Ended the Cold War (CreateSpace, 2011); also archives of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  “I consider your”: Ibid.

  “Both of us have”: Ibid.

  “I attach special significance”: Ibid.

  “I see a good augury”: “New Year’s Messages of President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev,” January 1, 1986, The American Presidency Project; http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=36367.