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President Regan had embarked on a massive round of military spending and who had made his political reputation as a Cold Warrior. Regan in 1983 called the Soviet Union "the Evil Empire"--hardly a place that would be changed by a few superficial reforms. Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev had embarked on reforms of the Soviet Union and wanted to reduce military spending. Reagan and other Americans were unsure what to make of the new Sovier Sectretary General. They met, at the first arms summit in Geneva (1985). Gorbachev put a human face on the hitherto faceless enemy. for the President. Afterwards, Reagan remarked, "There was warmth in his face and his style, not the coldness bordering on hatred I'd seen in most senior Soviet officials I'd met until then." He sensed as he described "the moral dimension in Gorbachev." Gorbachev, in turn, called Reagan a great American and a great leader. These were his public pronouncements. We do not have any frank statements from Gorbachev as to how he viewed Reagan at the time. In the remaining 3 years of the Reagan presidency, the two men participated in four submits that played a major role in important arms reduction treaties and in ending the Cold War.
President Regan had embarked on a massive round of military spending and who had made his political reputation as a Cold Warrior. Regan in 1983 called the Soviet Union "the Evil Empire"--hardly a place that swould be changed bu a few superficial reforms. Reagan at the time was widely characterized in Europe as a reckless, clueless cow boy who was courting with nuclear disaster. He was a favorite target of the Ban the Bomb demoinstrations. This was especially the case when the Pershing II Intermediate Range Balistic Missles were deployed in Germany. The only American president to be similarly vilified in Europe has been George W. Bush in connectiin with the Iraw War (2002).
Geneneral-Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party Mikhail Gorbachev had embarked on reforms of the Soviet Union and wanted to reduce military spending. Gorbachev between 1985 and 1990, sought to reform Soviet society by introducing perestroika (Russian, “restructuring”) of the economy and glasnost (Russian, “openness”) in political and cultural affairs. He augmented the authority of the Soviet presidency and transferred power from the Reagan and other Americans were unsure what to make of the new Soviet Sectretary General. Gorbachev wanted to reduce military spending to address pressing domestic problems. He also did not believe that the Soviet economy would permit the Sovits to match the Americans in another arms race. Here the Amerucan matching of SS-20s with Pershings IIs in Europe apperas to have been a major factor in convincing Gorbachev to reach an accomodation with the West.
The two men met, at the first arms summit in Geneva (1985). Gorbachev put a human face on the hitherto faceless enemy. for the President. Afterwards, Reagan remarked, "There was warmth in his face and his style, not the coldness bordering on hatred I'd seen in most senior Soviet officials I'd met until then." He sensed as he described "the moral dimension in Gorbachev." Gorbachev, in turn, called Reagan a great American and a great leader. These were his public pronouncements. We do not have any frank statements from Gorbachev as to how he viewed Reagan at the time.
Gorbachev and Reagan worked developed a warm relationship which assisted them in dealing with the many difficult problems they faced. The full story of the relationship between the two men has never emerged. We know how they yalked about each other in public, but not in private. Reagan was a geneial person, who loved to tell jokes and stories. He openly stated his objectives and policies. Gorbachev was a much more sophisticated man. We wonder what he thought of Reagan's often folksy ways. Reagan was not a master of detail. Here he relied heavily on his staff. Gorbachev was much more in command of the details. He was also at times frustrated when at times in the middle of detailed negotiations, Reagan would launch ingto one of his stories. The best remembered was a story about a 1,200 pond man who couldn't fit into his bathroom door. Apparently Reagan had just read it in a popular Americam magazine. Gorbachev who was more likely to be reading detailed intellgence reports on arms, was reportedly so confused that he dragged the Soviet Ambassador into the men's room to learn what this fat man had to do with arms reduction. We suspect that Regan's public pronoubcdements on Gorbachecv are close to his personal feelings. We also suspect that Gorbachev's private judgement on Regan may have been quite different than his public statements. We note some irritation, for example, in Reagan's repitition adenaseum of the "old Russian proverb", "Trust but verify".
The poorly designed Soviet nuclear reactor at Chernobyl exploded (April 26, 1986). Chernobyl is located in the Ukraine, about 90 kilometres (56 mi) northeast of Kiev near the Belarus border. Brave efforts were made to salvage the sitution. Several workers at the plant were true heroes. They exposed themselves to lethal doses of radition trying to prevent a nuclear explosion. Government officials reacted very differently. Despite Gorbachev's brave new reforms, old Soviet habits die hard. The Soviet officials despite the health dangers of radiation exposure to people living close to the reactior, the Soviet Governmeny made no public anouncement or issued health advisories to the Soviet people or to neighboring countries. This disaster was not, however, something that could be covered up behind closed Soviet borders. Soon officials in Western Europe, first in Sweden, began reporting high levels of radioactivity that was eminating from somewhere from the Soviet Ukraine. Soviet officials did not provide a full account of the Chernobyl accident until weeks after the accident--May 14. Finally Gorbachev appeared on television speaking to the Soviet people. Many in the West questioned his real commitment to Glasnost. The address itself, however, was a milestone in how Soviet leaders communicated such matters to their people. Even so, the truth about Chernobyl did not emerge until years after the disaster. There were design faults at the reactor, but this is not what caused the disaster. It occured because of the Cold War mentality of Soviet officials. A group of engineers were running a full-power test late at night. Because of the time, the head supervisers were not there. The lower-level personnel did not know that the facility included a secret operation to produce weapons-grade plutonium. The enginners were thus not aware that the release of energy would far exceed design specifucations because they did not include the plutonium operation in their calculations. When the reactor went critical, the engineers who were unaware of the secret plutonium operation had no way of bringing the reactor under control. [Birkhofer]
Considerable progress on arms control was made at the 1985 Geneva summit. The major sticking-point was President Reagan's cherished Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Gorbachev fearful that the Soviet Union could not match SDI and of the costs involved, insisted that the Americans cancel the program. Here Reagan flatly refused to budge. The program became dubbed "Starwars" after the popular film of the time. SDI also became a controversial program in Congress because if the emense costs.
Reagan and Gorbachev made more progress at the October 1986 summit in Reykjavik, Iceland. They met for a 48-hour summit. It had been planned as a basically inconsequential gathering sketch out future arms control talks. Both Reagan an Gorbachev, however, went off message and began talking about major issues, including SDI. Regan was way ahead of actual scientific progress on SDI. And Gorbachev took it very seriously. As best we can tell the Star Wars movies was having a real impact on international relations. They even began talking about eliminating nuclear weapons. Some Reagan's hard-line advisers were afraid that he was about to give away the ranch, meaning agreeing to cancel SDI. Although Reagan and Gorbachev were very close to agreement in late night sessions, the meeting again ended in stalemate. Again the stumbling block was Reagan's insistence on SDI. Gorbachev at Reykjavik refused to make further concessions without somekind of a compromise on SDI. Reyjavik did, however, lay the groundwork for whatg would become the most sweeping arms control agreement in histoty. [Adelman]
Gorbachev at the third summit, in Washington, D.c. during December 1987,
finally conceded and agreed to Reagan's terms. Most observers contribute the coincession Gorbachev made in Washington to the faltering Soviet econonomy. Analysys believe that the Soviets simply could not afford the high-level of military spending, let alone a new arms race. Others tend to focus on Gorbache's desire to redirect military spending toward domestic needs. Unlike American policy debates, Soviet debates were not a matter of public record. As a result, the full story here is not known. Reagan and Gorbachev signed the INF Treaty in Washington, in 1987. It was the first treaty to reduce the number of nuclear weapons. Previous treaties had limited nuclear weapons, but never provided for the actual destruction of existing weapons. Gorbachev caused a sensation in Washington when he got out of his car on Conndecticut Avenue and began chatting with passerbys.
Many in the United states and Western Europe were delighted with the agreement. Few Ban the Bomb protestors ever changed their minds abour Reagan or admitted that the decission of America and its NATO allies to match the Soviet SS-20 iRBMs, in the end resulted in a major reduction of nuclear weapons. Some of the President's domestic critics were also hesitant to give the President credit for his achievement.
Reagan next traveled to Moscow. He and Gorbachev called each other "friend". This meeting after the Washington Arms Treaty signaled the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Reagan matching Gorbachev's Connecticut Avenue performance, took a strole through Red Square. In true Soviet fashion, however, the "paser-bys" were KGB plants who began asking him detailed questions about SDI and the Treaty. (I am not sure, but I don't think Gorbachev approved this.) Gorbachev did spot a Soviet child and introduced the President to him as "Granddather Reagan (figure 1). Some of Reagan's aides were horified at the idea of the President being photographed in Red Square among Communists. The President, hoever, loved the resulting photographs.
Gorbachev's reforms did not have the impact he had hoped. Former Soviet leaders could command public adulation. With glasnost this became increasingly difficicult. In addition, the economic reforms rather than improving living conditiins actually resulted in falling incomes and living standards. The money saved on defense had little impact on the faltering economy. In addition, glasnost created a new problem. The Soviet police system had prevented any expression of natioanlist sentiment beyound superficial spectacles like folkn costumed dancing. Now with the weakening of the police state aparatus, the Soviet republics began not only to expressnationalist sentiment, but to demand independence.
Reagan and Gorbachev participated in submits that played a major role in important arms reduction treaties and in ending the Cold War. Here it was Gorbachev that made the key decission. He refused to use the very considerable police state aparatus at his disposal to suppress the increasingly free expression of ideas that had been generated by his glasnost reforms. as a commited Communist he no doubt believed in the refgime's propaganda and had no idea about the discontent that existed below the surface in Soviet society.
Adelman, Ken. Reagan at Reykjavik (2014), 384p. Adelman was President Reagan's Arms Control Director and was with him at Reykjavik.
Birkhofer, Adolph. Technical Universi=ty of Munich. University of Pittsburgh Conference on Nuclear Power (2012).
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