Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended [Hardcover]

Jack Matlock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 20, 2004

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

With the passing of Ronald Reagan, a rash of "insider" books can be expected, many of them fluff. But Matlock, who was Reagan's advisor on Soviet and European affairs and later ambassador to the Soviet Union, writes an important and serious account of the evolving relationship between the American and Soviet leaders. He also provides a fascinating glimpse into the inner workings and turf wars that inevitably occurred within the bureaucracies on both sides. Of course, Matlock is an unabashed admirer of Reagan, which colors his view, but his assertions that Reagan was far more flexible and committed to a lessening of tensions with the Soviets than was generally perceived seem credible. Furthermore, Reagan's core belief that the cold war would end only when the Soviet Union abandoned totalitarianism has been borne out by events. Matlock's views on Gorbachev are just as interesting. Gorbachev seems to have seriously believed in Marxist tenets, yet his decent, humane instincts led him away from his more doctrinaire colleagues in the Kremlin. He is a sympathetic figure who seemed vaguely aware that he was presiding over a doomed system that had become irrelevant to the needs of the citizenry. The struggle of these two men to deal with each other as well as with some of their recalcitrant advisors is a compelling story. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Random House; First edition (July 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679463232
• ISBN-13: 978-0679463238
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #862,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #52 in Books > History > Europe > Iceland
  • #84 in Books > History > Europe > Switzerland

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let Matlock be Matlock, August 22, 2004

By 

a reader (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended (Hardcover)

This past summer, I stood in sweltering heat along Pennsylvania avenue to crane my neck with thousands of others to catch a glimpse of the Reagan Funeral procession. Probably, many of us were not quite sure why we were there, other than the idea that some great moment had passed, and we wanted somehow to commemorate it.

Amid the many books of the Reagan era, this one must stand out as one that gets to the core of who Ronald Reagan was, and what exactly it was that he did. Ambassador Matlock was directly invovled in much of the policy making process, and has supplemented the work with research from both Russian and US sources. Not one of the media giants who haunt the memory of the period, (Brezhnev, Gorbachev, Haig, Weinberger, Schultz etc etc) Matlock was (and remains) a career diplomat and scholar, who like so many of his generation, was content to go about his business in a workman like fashion, without seeking the acclaim of the multitudes. A balanced account, though of course not without some home team cheerleading as well as internal infighting, Matlock gives an insightful reconstruction of the dramatic events that led to the end of the cold war "without a shot fired in anger". No doubt many factors contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union, Matlock gives one perspective from his unique position from within the Reagan administration. I am sure some from both sides will not be happy with this account, which most likely means that Matlock has struck exactly the right balance.

In the Epilogue, Matlock writes "The world today might be a safer place if today's leaders studied more carefully the acheivements and mistakes of their predecessors". This book is a good place to start.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The real Reagan - even better than a myth, November 8, 2004

By 

Vitali Silitski "Big Brother" (Washington DC, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended (Hardcover)

Jack Matlock's review can leave many Reaganites dissatisfied. He claims that Reagan DID NOT win the Cold War, at least single-handedly. He reveals, contrary to the moanings of the Communist fanatics, that the US DID NOT have an agenda to destroy the Soviet Union, whose collapse it actually feared for unforeseen circumstances. There WAS NOT even a plan to destroy the Communism, as it seemed unrealistic. What was at the beginning was a much more modest (by the count of today, not twenty-three years ago, though) agenda of not letting the USSR think that it can win the arms race and compel the world to subservance; to get the Soviets out of violation of numerous arms treaties and stop supporting terrorism; to get them out of the Afghanistan; to make it more respectful to human rights inside and around its empire. Not quite modest, though! Matlock shows quite convincingly that the US missile programs and especially SDI (Star Wars) were not enough to wear down the Soviet Union to the point of destruction: anyway, if the USSR did not chose to reform from inside, it could easily survive (although I would personally argue that the Reagan administration DID work to undermine the USSR economically - remember the pressure to push down oil prices, for example). And of course, Reagan did not force Gorbachev and perestroika. The latter happened largely due to a sequence of historic accidents: Russian leaders kept dying and the only one suitable to take (not one foot in the grave) office actually happened to be the one with aspirations to reform. Then Reagan found a partner at the table who can be sensible to his words and pressure. Former KGB head Andropov promoted Gorbachev for years, what an irony!!!

But here is what Reagan really DID. He DID convince the Soviets they could not prevail over the US in either arms race or grabbing new additions to its empire. He DID NOT chicken in the negotiations and made Soviets pretty much acquiescing to the US demands. This was extremely important as Gorbachev could not really start reforms without easing up the burden of arms race. In the end of the day, he understood that in order to disarm, he NEEDED the reforms - he had to be relieved from the pressure of hardline dogmatics in the Politbureau in order to eliminate very symbolic but essentially pointless stumbling blocks in the negotiations. So, Reagan really and honestly worked towards the end of the cold war, I would even say, there may be the case that he actually forced its end once Gorbachev was there, but the historical accidence and the good will of Gorbachev was an equally important factor. The same policy might not have resulted in what it resulted in with another aging blockhead in Kremlin, but Reagan's policies would surely make even this hypothetic blockhead abandon some of Brezhnev's ways.

Then, however, liberal leftists would be absolutely stunned to find out who Reagan WAS. Contrary to their cliches, Reagan WAS de-facto a Wilsonian romantic who dreamt about the world without nukes (and irritated the Socialist icon Francois Mitterand enormously on this), who pressed human rights as hard as he could; who was not a war mongerer, who paid due respect to Russia, its history and the people. He DID not score cheap propaganda points, however. Sometimes, talking endlessly about human rights could harm more the people suffering behind KGB bars than help them. He was very much aware, and did not do what Jimmy Carter still claims credit for as 'true humanitarian.But he quietly helped many dissidents. ' He WAS smart enough to understand that Gorbachev is cornered by hardliners, and never claimed he 'defeated' him in negotiations even when Soviets de-facto acquiesced to the American demands and principles. He WAS standing up against some real hawks and hardliners in his administration. Again, he was a Wilsonian in goals, but very realist and shrewed in means.

Back to Matlock. He dispels one more myth, that is, that the US actually WON the cold war. Over whom? Communism, there was a triumph of democracy, which is definitely not a zero-sum outcome. If over Russia, Russians could emerge as the greatest winners in cold war if they treated their newly-found freedom with a more accuracy.

And when reading this book, one comes to understand why Matlock endorsed Kerry, not Bush, in the last elections. Reagan never was a unilateralist. He cherished allies even when the latter disdained him. He understood and respected enemies, and above all, he was a man of ideals.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating History Book and a Business Case Study Book, September 28, 2004

By 

John W. Turner "Read to Continuously Improve" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended (Hardcover)

I couldn't put Matlock's book down. Why?

It was a fascinating insider's account of the Reagan/Gorbachev relationship and how it led to end of the Cold War. Matlock, a Soviet Union expert, who had spent many years there as an American Diplomat has an expert perspective of the relationship between the US/Soviet Union. He applied this background and his insider's knowledge as an advisor to Reagan, to tell the story about how Reagan, Gorbachev and their staffs interacted during and at the end of the Cold War. I felt like I was there during one of the most important times of the 20th Century. Matlock also included his opinions about the people, their ideas, and their decisions during these times. His opinions were focused, timely, and added to my interest of the book.

In addition to being an interesting historical book, I would recommend it for anyone in the business world. It is a case study about how to build relationships and how to negotiate. The book details how Reagan and Gorbachev built their relationship. It also reveals the details of one of the most important negotiations in history. A business person, or anyone who has to build relationships or negotiate, can learn from this book.

Overall, I would recommend this book for anyone interested in getting a knowledgeable perspective about why the Cold War ended. I would also recommend it as a relationship building and negotiating case study textbook.