Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended Review

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Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended ReviewThis past summer, I stood in sweltering heat along Pennsylvania avenue to crane my neck with thousands of others to catch a glimpse of the Reagan Funeral procession. Probably, many of us were not quite sure why we were there, other than the idea that some great moment had passed, and we wanted somehow to commemorate it.
Amid the many books of the Reagan era, this one must stand out as one that gets to the core of who Ronald Reagan was, and what exactly it was that he did. Ambassador Matlock was directly invovled in much of the policy making process, and has supplemented the work with research from both Russian and US sources. Not one of the media giants who haunt the memory of the period, (Brezhnev, Gorbachev, Haig, Weinberger, Schultz etc etc) Matlock was (and remains) a career diplomat and scholar, who like so many of his generation, was content to go about his business in a workman like fashion, without seeking the acclaim of the multitudes. A balanced account, though of course not without some home team cheerleading as well as internal infighting, Matlock gives an insightful reconstruction of the dramatic events that led to the end of the cold war "without a shot fired in anger". No doubt many factors contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union, Matlock gives one perspective from his unique position from within the Reagan administration. I am sure some from both sides will not be happy with this account, which most likely means that Matlock has struck exactly the right balance.
In the Epilogue, Matlock writes "The world today might be a safer place if today's leaders studied more carefully the acheivements and mistakes of their predecessors". This book is a good place to start.Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended Overview

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American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer Review

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American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer ReviewMy father spent most of his career in nuclear engineering researching the mathematics of nuclear reactors at Brookhaven. My father had visited all the national labs and got to know all the key players in nuclear physics in the period from 1950-1970. Growing up in that environment I naturally knew a bit about Oppenheimer and Teller and others. It was clear to me that my father had sympathy for Oppenheimer and a great deal of respect. Teller was viewed more as a politician looking for fame and publicity. This became even more apparent to me when in the 1980s I saw how he lobbied the Reagan administration for research on laser based strategic defense satellites.
This book is an account of Oppenheimer's life from childhood through the Manhattan Project with emphasis on the most crucial part of his career as the head of the Los Alamos Laboratory where physicists mathematicians and chemists teamed up to develop the first nuclear weapons that were used against Japan. Oppenheimer was a reserved man who did not seek the limelight. He was brilliant but his biggest asset was his management and leadership capabilities along with very good judgement, something that Teller seemed to lack. It was just these qualities of leadership that led to the succcessful development of the atomic bomb in a few short years at Los Alamos. His liberal past and pre-war affiliation with communism caused him great difficulties and some in the military feared that he was a security risk. He was continually being checked out by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. Hoover did not like the appointment of Oppenheimer to the key leadership position at Los Alamos.
After the war was over, strangely the man who was able to keep secrets during the crucial period of the Manhattan Project was not trusted after the war. He lost security clearance and struggled due to the increased fear of communism from the post-war Soviet Union including the wave of witchhunting during the Joseph McCarthy era. He was liberal and his pre-war past communist associations hurt him deeply. His philosophy on nuclear weapons and his clashes with his former colleague Joseph Teller made for a tormented post-war career. I believe Oppenheomer felt guilt over his involvement in the development of the bomb and was definitely against the arms race. This period of his life as well as his childhood was important to understand the complexities of this man. The authors do a good job of covering this and do not fall into the trap of just emphasizing the war years.
This book is engaging and very successful at portraying the life character and personality of J. Robert Oppenheimer. He was the right man for a difficult and challenging job and had what it took to get the most out of an odd group of geniuses.American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer Overview

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