A good op-ed in the New York Times today by John Patrick Diggins, including this passage:
Those advisers in the Bush administration who regard themselves as Reaganites ought to remember that Mr. Reagan ceased heeding their advice. According to George Shultz's memoir, "Turmoil and Triumph," Mr. Reagan would become uneasy when his hawkish advisers entered the Oval Office. In his own memoir, "An American Life," Mr. Reagan ridiculed the "macabre jargon" of warheads, I.C.B.M.'s, kill ratios and "throw weights," the payload capacity of long-range missiles. The president thought their figures sounded like "baseball scores" and dismissed his pesky advisers. Mr. Reagan rejected the neocons; George W. Bush stands by them no matter what. The difference between Mr. Reagan and Mr. Bush's militant brain staff is that he believed in negotiation and they in escalation. They wanted to win the cold war; he sought to end it. To do so, it was necessary not to strike fear in the Soviet Union but to win the confidence of its leaders. Once the Soviet Union could count on Mr. Reagan, Mr. Gorbachev not only was free to embark on his domestic reforms, to convince his military to go along with budget cuts, to reassure his people that they no longer needed to worry about the old bogey of "capitalist encirclement," but, most important, he was also ready to announce to the Soviet Union's satellite countries that henceforth they were on their own, that no longer would tanks of the Red Army be sent to put down uprisings. The cold war ended in an act of faith and trust, not fear and trembling.The 80s were scary enough. Thanks God Rummy was not in charge.
Comments
SayNay? - June 11, 2004 10:43 AM
Your post suggests you are relieved to know that Reagan was actually "in charge", unlike the disengaged "Ronnie Ray Gun" characterization you used in you link to that whiner Ian who talks about the "darkness" that seemed to fall over America on Reagan's election, a man who apparently filled Ian with "fear" (as Ian loads up his brand new Prius with his $1000.00 bikes - he seems to have survived the "darkness" ok - must have been the therapy)
Alan - June 11, 2004 10:54 AM
You know - you are absolutely correct but perhaps only as I was not subject to his domestic policy like Ian was and so some extent still is. I am most relieved, however, that Gorby was on the other side of the table. "Ronnie Ray Gun" is still entirely appropriate given the non-sense of the Star Wars defense system.
Alan - June 11, 2004 12:45 PM
But now read Blork on Ronnie.
alfons - June 11, 2004 7:55 PM
Perhaps slightly offtopic but good old globe & mail had a tremendous article that setthe record straight, and was to me like Proust's famous tea cookie:
Gorby had the lead role, not Gipper
Alan - June 12, 2004 1:09 AM
Alfons - welcome...I have read much about you and am glad you appear here representing one of my favorite countries...the land of <i>winkles, oude brun</i> and bicycles. <i>Bedankt</i>.<p>That all being said, I just watched Charlie Rose interview Brian Mulroney, our former PM, and for the first time realized how my present life depends on Ronnie Ray Gun. My wife and I met in Poland, Canadians teaching in 1991. I knew we relied on the end of the Cold War (obviously -including my time working in Holland in 1986). I knew Gorby was the cornerstone of the end of nuclear fear - but I never thought of Ronnie's deal making as another key factor. As childen sleep in this home, I remember.
SayNay? - June 12, 2004 10:08 AM
Well said Alan. Lawrence Martin's article in the Globe referred to by alfons above, suggesting the Reagan and the West won the Cold War on Gorby's "own goal" is pure and utter nonsense - Gorbachev's reforms were aimed at "re-vitalizing" Communism (as he could see the USSR was on the brink of economic collapse - when you can't pay the soldiers, you know what happens), not instituting "democracy". To this date, Gorbachev has never renounced Communism.
alfons - June 12, 2004 6:35 PM
The article reminded me of what actually happened: regular sudden announcements by either Gorbachev or Sjevardnadze to reduce the nuke war heads counts, followed by disbelief, surprise and ridicule in the West.
So what this has to do with Poland, communism, I don't know; I don't think the Globe & Mail article brought that up. But then, I thought Walesa (and the intellectuals behind him), Jaruzelski and the pope rolled up their sleeves, and worked on a smooth, virtually non-violent transition from communist government to modern democracy. Attributing it to Reagan, would be a bit too far off.
Alan - June 12, 2004 6:55 PM
Alfoz, I lived in Poland in 1991 so the experience of the end of the Cold War for me is most framed by that experience - I was not particularly commenting on the Globe and Mail article. During that time, the Soviet soldiers from East Germany were in transit back to Russia through Poland in trains and there were still Soviet jet bases in the district. The Warsaw Pact was very much still in transition. My suburb was next to a machine gun firing range as well as a tank brigade so what with all the rat-a-tat-tat-ing out the window as I sipped a Saturday ale or the sonic booms from the jets, the effect of the Ronnie and Gorby changes were pretty immediate.
Alan - June 12, 2004 9:48 PM
...and my favorite Haligonian blogger makes an excellent observation about Ronnie and Poland here.
Alan - June 13, 2004 1:01 AM
And, SN, Rob too admits the diff.
alfons - June 13, 2004 2:26 PM
Somehow, I'm not really convinced that Reagan would have done anything, other than orating (excellent) speeches, if the Warschaupact would have decided to strike down the Solidarinosc movement. I'm somehow (perhaps unfairly and prejudiced) reminded of Bush sr's support for the Iraqi shiites after the first Gulf war.
But then, I'm by no means an expert on Polish history though, so I may have some facts wrong - it's quite some time ago and I was a lot younger then.
Gorbachev, the minute he coined perestrojka and glasnost, always struck me as a `tragic` figure. Imagine him being killed, or replaced by another old die-hard - I can already hear the lamenting chorus and violent ending!