This is a collective memoir of yesteryear when the Cold War was still icy. The Reagan-Gorbachev Arms Control Breakthrough analyzes the limitation of intermediate-range nuclear force missiles from the vantage point of history, drawing primarily on the reflections of the INF Treaty negotiators in 1988, immediately following the treaty’s completion and ratification, but also providing today’s retrospective judgments.

It is increasingly difficult to invoke the waning years of the Cold War, with its ever-present fear that Soviet tank armies would thrust toward the English Channel, bringing nuclear war in their wake. This book brings that period to life through the writings of key participants in the successful negotiation of the INF Treaty:

Ambassador MAYNARD W. GLITMAN – INF Negotiator and principal administration witness during Senate ratification testimony

Ambassador JOHN WOODWORTH – INF deputy negotiator and DOD representative

RONALD BARTEK – State Department representative on the INF Delegation and Principal Negotiator for the INF Treaty Elimination Protocol

ROGER HARRISON – Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Politico-Military Affairs and Chairman on the INF Interagency Group

DAVID T. JONES – Special Assistant to Ambassador Glitman and Deputy for the State Department INF Treaty Ratification Task Force

GEOFFREY LEVITT – State Department lawyer addressing end game elements of the INF Treaty

LEO REDDY – State Department representative at the INF negotiations in Geneva.

The book offers an astute balance between the assessments of senior negotiators; the “nuts and bolts” observations of those in the trenches; the twists that required the keenest of legal minds to untangle; and the political manipulations and maneuvers in the epic struggle that secured its ultimate ratification by the U.S. Senate.

There was a touch of arrogance in the builders of the INF Treaty as they ventured into agreement with a disagreeable adversary. Historically, Moscow had never adhered to such an agreement; violations great and small with partners were the hallmark of arrangements with the Soviets. For the diplomats involved, the INF Treaty was a bright, shining, and potentially defining breakthrough in Cold War arms control with a hostile Moscow. The treaty’s unique elements achieved unprecedented negotiating objectives, weapons elimination, and verification, fulfilling hopes rather than fears.