I also cherish my friendships with Peter Schweizer and Chuck Dunn. When I first suggested the concept for this book, I suggested it to Peter, with the intent of prodding Peter (not myself ) to write the book. Peter responded: “Maybe you’re the guy to write that one.” About the same time, Chuck Dunn, a Grove City College dean, impressed upon me the importance of book writing generally. They created a monster.
Looking back, the actual writing of the book began even before Peter and Chuck as an independent study supervised in 1995 (and the research started well before then) by my doctoral advisor at the University of Pittsburgh, Paul Y. Hammond, a gentleman, a scholar, and a mentor. Pitt has been lucky to have him all these years.
Another early influence was Lee Edwards, who has now been publishing material on Ronald Reagan for five decades.
I also appreciate the support of Grove City College colleagues, especially Michael Coulter, Marv Folkertsma, Lee Wishing, John Sparks, Bill Anderson, John Moore, and Dick Jewell.
I’d like to reiterate my love for my wonderful family, my wife Susan and four children, Paul, Mitch, Amanda, and Abigail, and my parents, Paul and Gloria. To my father: thanks for working so hard to turn around that clueless teenager. To Susan: thanks for helping me block out the time to write, not to mention so much more than that. I’ve been blessed with much more than I deserve.
Finally, I’ve benefited mightily from the publishing savvy of Judith Regan and the editorial skills of the superb Cal Morgan and Matt Harper. If not for Matt’s fantastic guidance, this book would not read the way it now does (that’s an understatement). Matt did a truly magnificent job. And I greatly appreciate the support of a number of foundations: grants for this book were provided by the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Earhart Foundation, and the Historical Research Foundation. Earhart was kind enough to provide two grants, including a second grant for the summer 2003 trip to the Reagan Library.
Most notably, the first person to support this work was an unheralded entrepreneur from Pittsburgh named B. Kenneth Simon, who became a friend. I was deeply saddened to learn upon my return from a summer of research at the Reagan Library in 2003 that Ken had unexpectedly passed away. Ken so much wanted to see this book completed. This book is dedicated to him.
INDEX
Abramowitz, Mort, 259
Adelman, Kenneth, 231, 275–76
Afghanistan
Gorbachev and, 275–77
NSDD-166 and, 232–37
Reagan’s policy toward, 230–32
Soviet invasion of, 58
Soviet Union and, 228–30
Soviet withdrawal from, 273–75
use of Stinger antiaircraft missiles in, 257–60
Aganbegyan, Abel, 185
Albright, Madeleine, 194
Alexander, Andrew, 143
Allen, Richard V., 40, 42, 86, 112, 166 on alliance with Vatican, 139
as head of National Security Council, 74, 94
on RR’s military buildup, 238–39 SDI and, 246, 253
signing onto RR’s presidential campaigns by, 53–54
Ambrose, Stephen E., 221
Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), 17 Anderson, Frank, 274
Anderson, Judith, 11
Anderson, Martin, 48–49, 177
Andreas, Dwayne, 153
Andropov, Yuri V., 146, 185, 188, 205, 206–8
grooming of Gorbachev by, 220, 221 Arbatov, Georgi, 264, 280
arms race, 64–65
fiscal impact of, 240–42
Geneva summit and, 246–49
reaction of Gorbachev to RR’s, 242–46 role of, 237–40
SDI and, 242–46
Arnold, Eddie, 11
Avrakotos, Gust, 274
Azeem, Mohammad Ashraf, 309–10
Boland, Edward, 269
Boldin, Valery, 299
Boren, David, 259
Borovik, Genrikh, 99, 211
Bovin, Aleksander, 187
Bradley, Bill, 259
Bradna, Olympe, 68
Brezhnev, Leonid, 46, 146, 160, 170, 209,
Babiuch, Edward, 90
Bailey, Norman, 116, 121–22, 149, 157, 166, 190
Baker, James, 81, 190
Bandar, prince of Saudi Arabia, 256
Barrett, Laurence, 108
Barry, John, 275
Barrymore, Ethel, 22
Barrymore, Lionel, 11
Battaglia, Phil, 32
Bearden, Milt, 233, 234
Belafonte, Harry, 23
Benny, Jack, 22
Berlin, Germany, 40–41
Berlin Wall, 34–36, 292, 314
Bernstein, Carl, 134, 136, 139
Bessmertnykh, Alexander, 261, 300
Bishop, Joey, 36–37
Bishop, Maurice, 191, 192
Bogart, Humphrey, 11, 239
on detente, 47
invasion of Poland and, 93
Reagan’s letter to, 104–5
response to RR’s letter, 105–6
Brezhnev doctrine, 46
