Reagan, like Margaret Thatcher, knew suffered to that Gorbachev was a different man from the other Soviet leaders. They were small details to make him understand. He found that Gorbachev had a great curiosity about the West and a particular interest in everything that he told him to Hollywood. Gorbachev also had a sense of humor and could laugh at himself. Moreover, he was troubled by the definition of "evil empire" by Reagan earlier date. For Reagan it was significant that the idea of \u200b\u200bcontrolling an empire of evil upset Gorbachev. In addition, Reagan was struck by the fact that Gorbachev was a regular reference to God and Jesus Christ in his public statements and in interviews. When asked if his reforms had good chance to succeed, Gorbachev responded: "Only Jesus Christ can answer that question." These words could be regarded as a mere rhetorical device, but Reagan was not.
When in 1985, in Geneva, sat down at the negotiating table, however, Reagan saw that Gorbachev was a partner firm and resolute, and he used a tone that can be described as "rude friendly ". While the announcements by the State Department declared that the U.S. concerns the influence "destabilizing" the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Reagan faced head-on Gorbachev "What we're doing in Afghanistan is to burn villages and kill children," he said. "And 'genocide, Mike, and you who have the duty to stop it." At this point, said Kenneth Adelman, an aide to Reagan attended the meeting, Gorbachev looked at him with dazed expression: Adelman realized that no one had ever spoken in these terms to the Soviet leader. Reagan even threatened Gorbachev: "We will not allow you to maintain a military superiority over us," he said.
"can agree on arms reduction, or we can continue the arms race, which, I believe, you know very well that they can not win."
The attention paid to comments by Gorbachev, Reagan became evident in October 1986 at the summit of Reikyavik. Gorbachev stunned the Western establishment accepting Reagan's zero option and endorsing what the other doves were branded as totally unrealistic.
However Gorbachev poses one condition: the United States must agree not to proceed with deployment of missile defense.
But Reagan refused. The press immediately rushed to the attack. Here's the headline in the Washington Post: "The summit Reagan-Gorbachev fails stranded on the rock of SDI. "Sunk by Star Wars," read the cover of Time. For Reagan, however, the Strategic Defense Initiative was much more than a bargaining chip, it was a moral issue. Reikyavik In a televised statement from the chairman said: "It was not possible for me to tell the American people that the government does not intend to protect them from the risk of atomic destruction." Surveys show that most Americans had with him. Reikyavik said Margaret Thatcher, was the turning point in the Cold War. Gorbachev had finally realized that I had a choice: to continue an arms race without chance of victory that would destroy the Soviet economy, or give up the fight for global supremacy, to establish peaceful relations with the West and work to make the Russian economy as prosperous Western economies. After Reikyavik, Gorbachev decided for the latter. In December 1987 he gave up his request "not negotiable" an abandonment of the project U.S. defense and went on a visit to Washington to sign the treaty on intermediate range nuclear weapons. For the first time in history the two superpowers agreed on the elimination of an entire class of nuclear weapons. Moscow even accepted a check in the territory, which in the past had always refused. The hawks, however, were suspicious from the beginning.
According to them Gorbachev was a master of chess: he could sacrifice a pawn, but only to get a general advantage. "Reagan is running into a trap," warned Tom Bethell in the American Spectator in early 1985. "The only way they can succeed in the negotiations is doing what they want the Soviets." Republican senators like Jesse Helms and Steven Symms planned "killer amendments" to wreck the Strategic Defense Initiative. Yet, as some hawks now admit, these criticisms do not take the mark, Gorbachev was not just sacrificing a pawn, but he was losing the bishops and the queen.
The Treaty signed in Washington was actually the first step for the surrender of Gorbachev. Reagan understood that the Cold War was over the moment when Gorbachev came to Washington. In the U.S., Gorbachev had become a celebrity, and there was a large crowd to applaud him when he came down from the limousine to shake hands with people on the street. Out of the spotlight, Reagan had a dinner with a group of conservative friends, including Ben Wattenberg, Ane Georgie Geyer and R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. As he told me the same Wattenberg, everyone complained that Gorbachev received the same media all the credit for an agreement substantially on the terms decided by Reagan. Reagan smiled. Wattenberg asked, "We won the Cold War?". Reagan niche. Wattenberg insisted: "Well, we won, yes or no?". Reagan finally said yes. At that time everybody understood: Reagan that Gorbachev had wanted his day of glory. When the press asked him if he felt overshadowed by Gorbachev, Reagan replied: "Dear God, I was once again starred with Errol Flynn." To fully appreciate his cunning intelligence and diplomatic you should be aware that Reagan was following its policy, rejecting the advice of the hawks and the doves that. Reagan knew that the reform movement was weak, and that the Kremlin's hard not wait to U.S. initiatives to counter the action of Gorbachev. Reagan understood the importance of giving Gorbachev a space of action for continuing its reform program. At the same time, when the doves of the State Department asked Reagan to "reward" Gorbachev with economic concessions and commercial advantages for its announcement of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, Reagan understood that in this manner runs the risk of Healing fully bear ill.
Reagan's goal was, as he once said the same Gorbachev, to bring the Soviet Union to the brink of the abyss and then convince her to take "one step forward." So Reagan supported Gorbachev's reform efforts and at the same time continued to exert a constant pressure to push it to act more quickly and deeply.
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