GE: imagination at work

Progress Reports: Andrea Mitchell

The Ronald Reagan I Knew: Cold Warrior and Peacemaker

For all the grace and humor Ronald Reagan exhibited during his White House years, my lasting memories of him are as the tough, yet personable world leader who confronted a worthy adversary — Mikhail Gorbachev — and helped end the Cold War. In this achievement, as in all aspects of his legacy, Nancy Reagan played an indispensable role.

In the fifth year of his presidency, Ronald Reagan had yet to meet a Soviet leader. As he said on one occasion, “Well, they keep dying on me.” In fact, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko did all pass away in rapid succession. But Nancy Reagan, supported by like-minded advisors such as James Baker, worked hard to reinforce the President’s deeply held belief that nuclear arsenals had to be reduced, if not eliminated, from the face of the earth.

Gorbachev was different from his predecessors: at 54, he was young for a Kremlin leader, tough, but intellectually curious — and, as Reagan was to discover, religious. In November of 1985 we arrived in cold, snow-covered Geneva for the first meeting of these two men. The White House set the stage by having Gorbachev arrive on Reagan’s turf, a rented villa, as the U.S. President — two decades older — strode out purposefully, coatless and the image of vigor, to greet him. Gorbachev, wrapped in a muffler, an overcoat and wearing a fedora, immediately looked like the weaker partner. Reagan’s team then artfully arranged a seemingly impromptu “walkabout” in the villa’s garden so the two men could size each other up and Reagan could work his magic.

Nancy Reagan, despite her lack of personal chemistry with Mrs. Gorbachev, followed up with her signature hospitality at a White House State Dinner for the Gorbachevs two years later. I was the “pool” reporter representing the broadcast media. Mrs. Reagan’s careful planning paid off: she broke through Raisa Gorbachev’s frostiness by thoughtfully selecting Van Cliburn, still hugely popular in Moscow nearly three decades after his triumph at the Tchaikovsky piano competition, to entertain. Cliburn played the requisite classical pieces but then disarmed the Gorbachevs by performing a Russian folk song, “Moscow Nights.” The Gorbachevs broke into song, delighting their hosts and the American viewing audience.

Reagan could be tough, when warranted, as he was when he called upon Mr. Gorbachev to “Open this gate!… Tear down this wall!” But he always understood the power of personal diplomacy.

Years later, Gorbachev reminisced that he and Reagan had to overcome years of mistrust. After the President’s funeral, Gorbachev told NBC News: “After the (first) meeting, I told my team, he’s a real dinosaur, and he said I was a hardheaded Bolshevik.” Why did they end up creating history together? Gorbachev paused and told me: “I just liked him.” And whether you asked political opponents like Tip O’Neill or those of us in the press corps who hounded him with shouted questions, that was the universal response to Ronald Reagan. We just liked him.