The Last Superpower Summits

This book presents and interprets the archival records pertaining to the last meetings between Reagan, Gorbachev and Bush between 1985 and 1990, and the transcripts which include direct quotes by top leaders, as far as the interpreters and the notetakers managed to capture them. Important sources are the excerpts from the transcripts of the foreign ministers--Eduard Shevardnadze, Alexander Bessmertnykh, George Shultz, and James Baker--especially when they go face to face with the president or the general secretary. The summit conversations fueled a process of learning on both sides. Geneva 1985 and Reykjavik 1986 reduced Moscow's sense of threat and unleashed Reagan's inner abolitionist. Malta 1989 and Washington 1990 helped dampen any superpower sparks that might have flown in a time of revolutionary change in Europe, set off by Gorbachev and by Eastern Europeans (Solidarity, dissidents, reform communists). The high level and scope of the dialogue between these world leaders was unprecedented and appears to be largely missing in today's world.