Reagan at Reykjavik: Forty-Eight Hours That Ended the Cold War

Ken Adelman

may 2014 · Harper Collins

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A dramatic account of the Cold War’s turning point, the 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Iceland, by a key player in that weekend’s world-changing events.

In October 1986, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met for a forty-eight-hour summit in Reykjavik, Iceland. Planned as a short gathering to outline future talks, the meeting quickly turned to major international issues, including the Strategic Defensive Initiative (“Star Wars”) and the possibility of eliminating all nuclear weapons. Both men were at the height of their powers, and they had a rare opportunity to move toward peace. The meeting led to negotiations and concessions that neither side had predicted—and laid the groundwork for the most sweeping arms accord in history, adopted the following year, and the end of the Soviet Union a half decade later.

From his position as a participant in these historic events, Ken Adelman, Regan’s arms control director, is able to reveal the motivations, relationships, and conversations that led to the summit’s breakthroughs. His analysis as both a participant and historian provides an invaluable perspective on this uniquely significant episode.

Scrupulously researched and based on now-declassified documents, Reagan at Reykjavik tells the gripping tale of the weekend that changed the world. Adelman provides an honest, laser-etched portrait of President Reagan at one of his finest and most challenging moments—and, indisputably, one of the most significant triumphs of his presidency.

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Ken Adelman was President Reagan's arms control director at Reykjavik during the 1986 superpower summit with Mikhail Gorbachev. Adelman accompanied Reagan to three superpower summits in all. He has also served as a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and an assistant to the secretary of defense. After leaving government, he taught Shakespeare at Georgetown University and George Washington University, and National Security Studies at Johns Hopkins and Georgetown Universities. He is the author of several books, including Shakespeare in Charge and The Defense Revolution. He lives in Arlington, Virginia.