A Conversation with the Authors of Reagan’s Secret War
There have been hundreds of books on Ronald Reagan over the years, and
yet there is still such a sense of mystique about him. Why do you think that is?
There’s a huge disconnect between
the commonly held image of Reagan as an easygoing, optimistic, ordinary guy and
the tremendous accomplishments of his administration. He presided over an incredible period of
rebirth for
So people naturally start to wonder, “How is it possible that this folksy former actor accomplished so much?”
That’s the fundamental question so many books have struggled to answer—and often, the easiest conclusion to draw is “maybe he was just lucky. Maybe he was just there when the Cold War ended.”
But—as indicated by the never-before-seen documents we draw upon for this book, and as our previous books have shown as well—the real answer is that those modest outer trappings masked a ferocious intelligence.
We hope that our work will
convince readers—it’s certainly convinced us—to accept the simple truth that
there was much, much more to Ronald Reagan than ever met the eye. And no, he wasn’t “lucky” to preside over
such a great period for
What sets Reagan’s Secret War apart from other books published on him and his presidency?
Access—and the conclusions that result from that access.
In terms of access, no other book has drawn on the trove of classified documents on which this book is based. Martin, thanks to his top secret clearance, was able to access a huge quantity of material in the Reagan library, material that has never been made available to historians or researchers. He looked at hundreds of sets of minutes from National Security Council meetings, the discussions where fundamental issues of strategy were hammered out. He looked at records of conversations between Reagan and world leaders. He found dozens of letters between Reagan and his Soviet counterparts. He accessed transcripts of the four historic U.S.–Soviet summit meetings between Reagan and Gorbachev—including those of the private conversations between the two leaders, where the support staff was shut out of the room and only translators were present.
The conclusions we draw about Reagan’s efficacy may seem far-reaching at first glance, but we believe that once readers actually read the book and evaluate all this new evidence we deploy in its pages, they won’t have any choice but to reach the same conclusions we did. What emerges here, we believe, is a new understanding of how crucial Reagan’s strategy and decisions were to winning the Cold War, and how transcendently important was his steadfast commitment—often in the face of resistance from his closest advisers—to nuclear disarmament.
You make reference to this being the fourth great treasure trove of
Reagan’s own words. Can you elaborate on
this?
Our book Reagan, In His Own Hand drew upon a first treasure trove—685 radio commentaries Reagan wrote in the late 1970s on every imaginable foreign and domestic policy issue before the country, as well as drafts of speeches, again in his own handwriting. These opened our eyes to something we hadn’t suspected, even in our time working with Reagan ourselves: that he himself wrote many of the lines he delivered.
A second treasure trove was the discovery of thousands of letters—probably 10,000 over his lifetime—Reagan wrote to all kinds of people—friends, citizens, heads of state. About 10 percent of those were selected for Reagan: A Life in Letters. We draw on many unpublished ones in this book.
The personal diary Reagan kept during his years as president is a third great treasure trove. Douglas Brinkley made many of those entries available in The Reagan Diaries, but often their significance only becomes clear when viewed in the context of events. We feel that the narrative we’ve put together sheds new light on this treasure trove as well.
And, of course, the fourth great treasure trove is the top secret, never-before-seen material we allude to above.
You both worked on Reagan’s presidential campaigns as well as in the
Reagan White House. Yet you write that
there is a lot revealed in this book that you yourselves were totally unaware
of until your research began. What was the most surprising information you
uncovered?
We were surprised at how clearly the documents show that Reagan was directing the strategy and making all the decisions—again, in complete contradiction to the conventional wisdom that someone, somewhere, was pulling his strings.
We were surprised at how early in the presidency Reagan’s strategy—and his goal of wiping out nuclear weapons—was clear. For example, he laid it out in a meeting with representatives of the Pope on December 15, 1981.
We were surprised at how persistent his efforts were on human rights. He brought up human rights in every meeting with Soviet leaders, from his 1983 meeting with Soviet ambassador Dobrynin right on through his last meeting with Gorbachev.
We were surprised,
too, at how far the Soviets went toward accommodating Reagan well before
Gorbachev became head of the
Why was it important for you to write this book, and what do you hope
readers will take away from it?
Partly, of course, it’s a matter of history, of getting the past right. We feel that in exposing the true importance of Reagan’s role in ending the Cold War—and in putting readers “in the room” for key negotiations and strategy meetings—this book contributes to the understanding of a watershed moment in the twentieth century, and that’s a worthy goal in its own right.
But it’s not just history. The Cold War is over, of course, but often people seem to forget that the threat of nuclear weapons is very much still with us.
So I suppose we hope that in showing Reagan’s commitment to disarmament, and the struggle he went through, this book will remind readers of the challenges we’re still facing and help to get this issue the attention it deserves. And we feel that the tactics and diplomacy Reagan used, the solutions he helped engineer, can serve as models for those who continue to confront the problem of nuclear proliferation.