Reagan's War: The Epic Story of his Forty Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism [Hardcover]

Peter Schweizer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2002

A meticulously researched and penetrating analysis of the Cold War, and the man who ended it. Peter Schweizer delves into the origins of Ronald Reagan’s vision of America, and documents his consistent, aggressive belief in confronting the Soviet Union diplomatically, economically, and militarily.

Ronald Reagan is often dismissed as an “amiable dunce,” a genial actor who simply mouthed whatever slogans his right-wing puppet masters put in front of him. Reagan’s War brilliantly overturns this myth. Drawing on private diaries dating from Reagan’s days as an actor and extending through his presidency, Peter Schweizer, a well-known historian of the Cold War, shows that Reagan’s fervent anticommunism marked every era of his life and was the driving force behind his policies as president.

Schweizer explores Reagan’s involvement with anticommunist liberals in Hollywood and his role as a secret informer for the FBI. Reagan’s outspoken criticism of d?tente in the late 1960s and his forceful advocacy for the overthrow of the USSR drew the attention of Soviet officials, who began a KGB file on him when he was still governor of California. By the time he was elected president, they viewed him as a serious threat to their interests. Reagan’s War shows just how right they were, presenting compelling evidence that Reagan personally mapped out and directed a campaign to bankrupt the Soviet Union and wage an economic and political war against Moscow.

In telling the story of Reagan’s ultimate triumph, Schweizer also brings to light dozens of previously unknown facts about the Cold War, based on secret documents obtained from archives in Russia, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and the United States. Among his many startling revelations are Kissinger’s private deals with Soviet leaders that protected his own political viability while allowing the Soviets to pursue their goals within their own sphere; a North Korean and East German plot to assassinate Reagan in 1983; Reagan’s secret funding of Solidarity in Poland; and the behind-the-scenes support Soviets and East Germans provided for European and American peace movements, as well as their clandestine contacts with U.S. government officials.

A fresh, often startling look at Ronald Reagan and his central role in winning the war for global dominance in the 1980s, Reagan’s War is a major work of twentieth-century history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Cold War rhetoric of the subtitle is completely apropos to this hagiography, which gives the Gipper full credit for bringing down the Soviet Union. Schweizer is a fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution and coauthor, with Caspar Weinberger (Reagan's secretary of defense) of The Next War. Using Reagan's own files and papers, and other newly released material, Schweizer demonstrates Reagan's development as a critic and determined opponent of communism and of the Stalinist Soviet Union. Schweizer depicts Reagan, from the beginning, regarding tactics and realpolitik as more important than ideas; in the process, the author does not carefully distinguish (as Reagan and most others of the era did not) Stalinism and what came after from communism as an ideal. Reflection, study and conviction led Reagan to the belief that steady pressure systematically applied would eventually bring down a Soviet Union whose legitimacy rested ultimately on force. He remained committed to this vision as his status rose in a Republican Party itself increasingly committed to a detente that Reagan argued both weakened the West and prolonged the survival of its rival power. Schweizer takes pains to establish the widespread belief in the West by 1980 that the balance of economic, military, and political forces had irrevocably shifted in favor of the U.S.S.R. On assuming the presidency, Reagan brought about a huge change in U.S. policy, abandoning defensive counterpunching and actively prosecuting a Cold War the U.S.S.R. had never ceased to wage. Schweizer argues that Reagan spent as much time convincing his own lieutenants to abandon the defensive as he did confronting the Russians. It's a story that is clearly and stirringly told, but without seriously entertaining dissenting views on its iconic subject.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Ronald Reagan remains a polarizing figure. Critics have dismissed him as an "amiable dunce," while supporters see him as an underappreciated political genius. This book falls squarely into the latter camp, arguing that Ronald Reagan "won the Cold War." The consensus among experts is that credit for our Cold War victory is widely shared by Harry Truman and the policies he developed after World War II; the American people who suffered and died to protect freedom; our allies, who were part of the decades-long effort; Mikhail Gorbachev for his efforts to open up the Soviet Union; and finally Reagan for his policies toward what he called "the evil empire." Few serious analysts, however, would go as far as Schweizer (Disney: The Mouse Betrayed) does in attributing victory almost solely to Reagan. The strength of this book is found in the early chapters, where the author traces the development of Reagan's anticommunism from his days as head of the Hollywood Screen Actors Guild to his entry into politics in California. It demonstrates Reagan's consistent view over time and how his commitment to freedom animated his actions. The book's weakness is in its political bias, which unfairly dismisses the efforts by several generations and other Presidents to stem, then turn, the tide of communism. Suitable for large and university libraries.
--Michael A. Genovese, Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1 edition (October 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385504713
• ISBN-13: 978-0385504713
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #863,920 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter Schweizer is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and is the author of numerous books, including the New York Times bestseller Do as I Say (Not as I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy. He lives in Florida with his wife and sons.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, October 30, 2002

By 

Big Dave (Boise, Idaho) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reagan's War: The Epic Story of his Forty Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism (Hardcover)

It's a pretty unusual book that sports praise from Margaret Thatcher, Lech Walesa and Caspar Weinberger on its dust jacket, but then Ronald Reagan was a pretty unusual man.

_Reagan's War_ isn't a biography. It starts with the adult Reagan already married to Jane Wyman and in Hollywood, beginning his "forty-year struggle" against communism, and it ends with the end of Reagan's Presidency. In between Schweizer recounts the tale of how Ronald Reagan -- often alone and against public opinion and advice -- won the Cold War.

_Reagan's War_ is an important reminder of many truths about the Cold War: that Soviet communism was aggressively imperialist, determined to rule the world; that the Soviets crushed their own citizens and mangled their own economy; that the Soviets were aided and abetted by many agents and useful idiots in the West; that a generation of American politicians allowed the Soviets to expand and dominate by constantly giving ground and putting faith in the mirage of detente; and that Reagan beat the Soviets, precisely by being a warmongering cowboy who would not accept compromise or defeat. Reagan challenged the Soviets on all fronts, supporting the Solidarity movement in Poland, broadcasting Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America into Soviet territory, arming and training insurgents fighting Soviet occupation, and most especially, by committing to an arms race that he knew the lumbering Soviet economy could not win.

_Reagan's War_ is well-written, often entertaining and sometimes quite moving. In addition to being important history, the tale of Reagan's war against communism is a great moral example of the difference that an individual can make and a powerful illustration of the force of freedom.

41 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A compelling account of Reagan's crusade against Communism, November 16, 2002

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reagan's War: The Epic Story of his Forty Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism (Hardcover)

REAGAN'S WAR begins with a terse retelling of the "Battle of Hollywood," a violent 1946 strike by a Communist-controlled labor union against the Warner Brothers studio. The strike fizzled, as did the Communist attempt to take over a studio. From the perspective of the Kremlin, it must have seemed like a small defeat at the time. But the unintended consequence of that strike was that an actor on the Warner lot, Ronald Reagan, began to realize that Communism posed a serious threat to American liberty.

REAGAN'S WAR tells the story of how Reagan developed his commitment to rolling back Communism and how his policies resulted in a fatal blow to the evil Soviet empire.

REAGAN'S WAR is not a biography, but a reexamination of Reagan's life through the narrowing prism of anti-Communism. Loyal Reaganites will find little emphasis on Reagan's tax-cutting fervor, or the resulting economic expansion. Critics of the Reagan Administration may be disappointed that Iran-Contra is mentioned only briefly (and Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North only once). But the readers who will be the most dissatisfied --- if they read the book at all --- will be the former Communist elite in the former Soviet Union.

For them, REAGAN'S WAR will bring back only painful memories of tyranny past.

The part of the book that will most educate readers deals with Reagan's formative experiences in anti-Communism, placing his evolving worldview in counterpoint with the aggressive tactics of the Kremlin. While Communist satellite governments were consolidating their hold on Eastern Europe, Reagan recorded fundraising appeals for what would become Radio Free Europe and helped build Democratic support for Dwight Eisenhower. While Communism was toppling dominoes in Southeast Asia, Governor Reagan was confronting student protesters at Berkeley. While Nixon and Kissinger were laying the groundwork for detente, Reagan was advocating a more confrontational strategy, and preparing for a run at the Presidency.

REAGAN'S WAR provides an in-depth analysis of Reagan's economic and political maneuvers that led to the downfall of the Soviet Union. Author Peter Schweizer describes how Reagan coupled his legendary ability to communicate with his principled leadership and his unwavering faith, and shows how these characteristics were essential in his efforts to roll back Communism. Although his critics constantly accused Reagan of being a warmonger, Schweizer shows that his greatest victories were not in the battlefield but at the conference table. The last chapter of the book summarizes the efforts to cause the economic collapse of the Soviet Empire, showing billions of dollars lost by the Soviet economy due to military spending, Western economic sanctions, and aid to Cuba and Eastern Europe.

Schweizer's conclusions are buttressed significantly by his research in newly opened secret archives. We learn, unsurprisingly, that the peace movement in West Germany was supported and controlled by the East German secret police. We hear the complaints of Soviet leadership that the Reagan Administration would not shift its policies for political advantage, and worries that Reagan's spread of "anti-Soviet ideas" would prove decisive. There is even a too-brief mention of a North Korean threat to assassinate Reagan during a visit to South Korea. Schweizer also adds the Soviet perspective of summit meetings in Geneva and Reykjavik, and details the effect of Reagan speeches on the Russian dissident community.

REAGAN'S WAR is a popular, rather than a scholarly treatment of its subject. There is less detail than some readers would like about particulars, such as Reagan's relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev, and the decision to pursue missile defense. The book's positive, aggressive defense of the Reagan record causes it to overlook some important issues. For example, the invasion of Grenada is presented without reference to the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, which immediately preceded it. The recounting of the arming of the Afghan resistance fails to take
into account the unintended consequences of that decision, which are still ongoing as of this writing.

However, the purpose of REAGAN'S WAR is not to criticize, but to celebrate a great victory and the great leader who is responsible for that victory. It accomplishes that purpose brilliantly, compiling Reagan's efforts against Communism into a unified whole, and further burnishing the Reagan legacy in the process. It is a valuable and important book for students of the era or students of leadership.

--- Reviewed by Curtis Edmonds ([e-mail]) writes movie reviews at http://www.txreviews.com/

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE RIGHT MAN AT THE RIGHT TIME, December 20, 2002

By 

A. DaSilva (Irvine, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Reagan's War: The Epic Story of his Forty Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism (Hardcover)

I never was interested in the man when I was growing up. But a lot of things that I remember usually revolved around criticisms and putdowns of a lot of things he did. I read this book hoping to find out more about the man, since so many titles have been coming out. I wasn't disappointed. Here was an individual who had prepared all his life to fight against tyranny and oppression. It was really amazing to me how smart and insightful Reagan was considering all the bashing he gets. I don't think anyone can disagree with his determination and will to bring the Soviet Union down. I really appreciated the references in the back since it made the book even more credible.