Bush 41 and Gorbachev

The conditions that underpinned U.S.-Soviet relations during the George H. W. Bush presidency were vastly different from today. Nevertheless, President Bush’s adroit diplomacy, which built upon President Ronald Reagan’s strategic choices, offers insights for American policy toward Russia three decad...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Diplomatic history 2018-09, Vol.42 (4), p.560-563
Main Author: ZOELLICK, ROBERT B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bush, George
Cold War
Diplomacy
Gorbachev, Mikhail S
Leverage
Market economies
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF RUSSIAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS
Presidents
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Summary:The conditions that underpinned U.S.-Soviet relations during the George H. W. Bush presidency were vastly different from today. Nevertheless, President Bush’s adroit diplomacy, which built upon President Ronald Reagan’s strategic choices, offers insights for American policy toward Russia three decades later. The United States must build economic strength, leverage power, tend to allies, act prudently, and recognize that Russians must decide their own future. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev wanted to end the Cold War because the Soviet economy could not keep up with Western market economies, especially with their technological advances. The Soviet Union’s “correlation of forces” ultimately depended on an...
ISSN:0145-2096
1467-7709
DOI:10.1093/dh/dhy041