To be left alone, but now to attach that belief, not simply to escape but to a sense of greater selfrighteousness, a greater sense of american purpose. Overturned in this sense. Rights andof states they return in this sense to local control. S was we will talk about reagan and the new right, a new american right. Then we will talk about the new cold war, the changes in the cold war. Then we will talk about the end of the cold war. We will talk about that in our lecture next week as well. We will talk about early in the cold war and Ronald Reagans role in that as well as mikal gorbachev. Lets start with reagan and the new right. Reagan atave ronald his first job. Really, his second job. His first job was as a lifeguard. His second job, as a radio announcer in des moines, iowa. In des moines, iowa. His career was largely a career in entertainment, not in policy. In entertainment and in radio in and in movies as well. He was born in dixon, illinois, which was a rural town in illinois, a Farm Community where farmers came in to buy supplies and sell their goods, etc. Age, he became a fan of franklin roosevelt. He began his life as a teenager who was a new deal democrat. This was largely because of the experiences his family had. His father, jack reagan, as you can tell from the name, was an irish descendent, a descendent of irish immigrants. Talkinggan was a fast shoe salesman. Well loved. And as a shoe salesman in dixon, illinois, he went doortodoor. He actually went to peoples homes and sold shoes to them. I dont think they were wearing nike hightops. But maybe they were. We dont know. He was selling shoes. During the great depression, his father lost his job. Quite literally, it is hard for us to imagine. People stopped buying shoes. His father lost his job. His father was already a heavy jerger drinker and became an even heavier drinker. People did not simply lose their jobs. They lost their sense of purpose. They lost their sense of connection and control over their lives. It was difficult for men. Difficultticularly for men at a time where men were the assumed bread earners in their families. 25 of americans were unemployed in 1933. Most of them were single wage families. The men, when they could not bring a wage home, they had lost masculinity and manhood. His father, like many men dealing with this depression, became a deeper drinker, developed a serious drinking problem and began having problems with reagans mother and family. Reagan described later in life the horror of one day opening the door and seeing his father face planted in front of the house not having made it back into the home the night before. Ronald reagan believed as a young man that his family was saved by franklin roosevelt. The new deal was saved his family. His father after being unemployed got a job working for a new deal agency while working for the Works Progress administration, taking small amounts of money from the federal government to put people to work. His father was the perfect person to do this because, as the popular shoe salesman, he knew everybody. He knew how to find everybody and put them to work. It gave his father a job, gave his family and income. It gave him a sense of purpose. Growing up as a young man Ronald Reagan wanted to be someone who brought purpose to others and embody that hope and went into entertainment. He was a radio announcer. He had moved to des moines from dixon, illinois, moved from iowa, local radio station, he was a sportscaster. They used to send in the scores from baseball games by telegraph. They did not have video screens, and he would read the scores. It was his job to tell the story. He became a great storyteller, explaining what was happening in the chicago cubs game or the yankees game or whatever he was covering. After doing radio for a while, and radio was also Franklin Roosevelts means of communication, Ronald Reagan moved to hollywood. He never made it to the top of hollywood. He never became lauren bacall, humphrey bogart, although those were his friends. I dont know who would be the b grade movie stars today. People we recognize but they are not brad pitt. Youtubers . Dr. Suri i would say they are like the d list. They have moved up. Dr. Suri who are the supporting actors in a lot of movies . Whatever they are, that is who you recognize but usually arent the stars. He never quite made it to the top. And then, he became involved with the work of actors to protect their pay. He was very concerned, Ronald Reagan was, that actors like himself especially those not at the top were being exploited by the movie studios. This is the way things worked at that time. It was this way in sports. You as an actor were owned by the studio or the team you played for. Babe ruth played his entire career after being treated for the yankees because they owned him. Traded by the red sox to the because the yankees owned him. It all worked at the same studio they all worked at the same studio because they were owned. Reagan got involved with the creation of what some of you know now, what some people watch, when the actors get awards, they pretend to cry and think their grandmothers, the Screen Actors Guild. Which was essentially the first union for actors. The first union for actors. The Screen Actors Guild was designed to provide actors with the ability to bargain to be paid better and not to be owned by their studios. Reagan became president of the Screen Actors Guild and spent as much of his career as he would in hollywood negotiating as he did acting. This is important because he developed the sense of Free Enterprise and unions. Throughout our course unions have played an important role. Think of to let randolph and the a Philip Randolph and the brotherhood of sleeping car porters and the importance of the civil rights union. Unions were crucially important to hollywood and sports. It is the Major League Baseball union which allowed the creation and negotiation for free agency. Baseball players are not owned by their team when the contract is up. They can go somewhere else and negotiate with a team to be paid more. You all believe in this. Most of you will work for multiple people and often many of you will be at a job in one place, google, and apple will offer you more money and you will want to be able to leave to get more money. That is what being a free agent is all about. The negotiation for free agency was done by the Screen Actors Guild. He became well known as a b grade actor but an effective spokesperson for freedom and entrepreneurship, protecting values for actors and others and was hired by General Electric which makes dishwashers and washing machines to be a spokesman for them. He went around the country advocating for entrepreneurship in companies. General electric of the 1960s was like google today. We are bringing you the future. Embrace freedom. In 1964 he decided he would support a republican candidate. Not a democratic candidate. He supported Barry Goldwater against Lyndon Johnson. His belief was Lyndon Johnson was doing in support of the civil rights movement, what Lyndon Johnson was doing was creating too many restrictions on the freedom of individuals like himself. He did not oppose civil rights but he opposed the federal government getting too involved in peoples lives. Limiting their ability to live as their wish they wish. He saw Lyndon Johnson and others as over regulating the economy and society. And he became the first celebrity to get elected to office. Barry goldwater did not win in 1964 but Ronald Reagan was elected governor in 1966. He recently defeated the most he recently defeated the most recently what do you think, do you like my shirt . You and i do a lot of blue on blue. Dr. Suri i have surpassed you today. Sometimes we end up wearing the same thing. It is a higherquality shirt. It is wonderful you mention this because it was brought to me by my relatives from india. I am wearing my indian internationalism in a stylish way today. What about your shirt, by the way . It has been a while and no one has commented on the shirt. Dr. Suri it is very summery. Doesnt it remind you of a jungle . I thought it was camouflage. Join the marines. It is important to me. Dr. Suri doing the facial hair. Is it not possible . A weirdo. There was a real i like to vamp a little. Students appreciate it. Dr. Suri we dont want to be too serious. Nathan would like to know if reagan became popular because of his sense of humor. Dr. Suri it wasnt just reagans sense of humor. He was famous for his ability to tell jokes. Humor is important because being humorous is able to show you dont take yourself too seriously. If you do, it is hard to get other people to connect with you. We connect with people who we feel are open. He conveyed a sense of humor but it was not the only source of his popularity. A lot of it was his authenticity. Even though he was an actor, they believed they were getting the real person. He was humane. One of the things we have to remember it being the smartest in the room is not always the best way to connect with people. You should be smart and also be humane. People connect with others who they feel they can identify with. His humor, storytelling, all of these things allowed him to do that. He gained a lot of experience talking to people. One of the things he learned as a union leader, a campaigner, speaking for General Electric around the country, he learned how to talk to lots of audiences. Dont just travel widely but talk to different kinds of people. If there are people out there you have not figured out how to talk to, you need to because one day they will be important. Even if they see the world differently. One of the ways we do that is with humor. We break the tension in the room with humor. Another way is by revealing some of ourselves, being vulnerable and telling stories. T is far more effective rat this is why history is so valuable. It is more valuable to tell a story then to tell people what to do. During the 1970s, reagan campaigned on renewing americas story, renewing who we are. He was upset that we had forgotten who we were. We had gotten so caught up in the crises and controversies about civil rights, about vietnam we forgot who we were. This concept of a new right was a concept at the time of creating a return to what made america great, made america what it was. Return to basic humanitarian values. In return he said of using force in limited ways but using it to win. He was a big fan of the rambo movies. I know eddie is a fan. Have you seen all of them . All of them. Dr. Suri you like the rambo movies too . Yeah. Dr. Suri sure. He loved the rambo movies, sylvester stallone, because in those movies unlike in vietnam, the Good American finds a way to win. The problem is the government officials who dont understand and the enemy is on the ground. Be good, strong american finds his way to win. There is a famous moment in 73 or 74 where he is communicating back with home and he says can we win this time . Reagan used that line all the time. Yes, we can win this time. His belief was that and his new right was an argument the left had done so much to make American Society better and control American Society it had lost its sense of American Freedom and this was going to be recaptured. As he was elected the president , largely on that argument if carter was a response to nixon, providing integrity and honesty, reagan was a response to carter, providing idealism and hope. Carter was seen as dull. Reagan would be hopeful and exciting. His new right promised showcase American Power at home and abroad, we would win again. Reagan chose places where he felt this was possible. In particular el salvador. If you look at the bottom righthand corner, you can see it in central america. Reagans argument was communist forces were winning and we were losing. They were winning and we were losing. The soviets were developing weapons. We were leaving vietnam, but they were going into afghanistan and using allies in cuba and elsewhere to spread influence into countries like el salvador that had new soviet and cuban friendly governments. We would return to righteous ideals and we would not accept this. We were not going to accept this. Reagan argued the u. S. Had to pursue more militant anticommunism in our local region. No more big wars but the use of force in small wars to protect ourselves. The doctrine was one that said we would use force wherever necessary to keep communists out of our backyard. Here he quoted Theodore Roosevelt on the United States using its power to show it was a great power in its own back yard. This had consequences, however. It was popular among americans and made them feel they had a purpose in Foreign Policy again, idealism and a reminder for what we stood for. We stood for the defeat of communism. But the groups we often supported fighting the communists were not democratic or idealistic. The next slide, someone characterizing what happened. It is from the 1980s. This is a soldier in the field in el salvador. He said president duarte, Jose Napoleon duarte was a militarist who reagan supported, the u. S. Gave arms to to fight against communist forces. In this cartoon the soldier with the beer belly i was going to make a joke, but i wont. The soldier with the beer belly is communicating and says yes, president duarte. You can tell them el salvador moves steadily towards democracy. Does it look like it is . What do you think . What do you will see in this cartoon . There is a serious point in this cartoon relevant to the reagan years and later years. What does the cartoon say . What is the cartoon poking fun at . At the least it is not satirical to say they are moving steadily towards democracy. I notice also those little dudes on the bottom right dr. Suri we are winning the hearts and minds of the moral majority. That was a phrase used by a young minister named jerry farwell. He was a young minister who said the americans will be a majority of people pushing for morality abroad. What do we see in the cartoon . David says it looks like nothing is happening. Chloe says a bunch of people are dead. Stagnation. Oppression. Nathan says it looks more like militarianism. John says they are undemocratic. Miranda says not moving towards democracy. Dr. Suri the irony if we go back to the image is that they are not moving to democracy at all. He believed it, but it was at the pursuit of democracy which was destroying democracy. George kennans warning, we have to make sure when we are defending values, we defend in ways that dont destroy them. But reagans administration was supporting the people who needed to be supported because they were fighting the guys we hated. In supporting one group of thugs against another, we were not making it better. We were making it worse. Look at this image. Our friends are ugly, fat, and they are using guns to kill people. They are not building democracy. They are claiming they are building democracy, but they are destroying peoples lives. It is not to say the other side is better. What makes this cartoon powerful is this cartoon is not over simplifying. It is telling us how the policy makers are oversimplifying and the leaders are. It is not the people they are fighting are good either, but the people we are supporting against the bad guys are potentially as bad. The duarte regime would show people who were seen as not on the side of the good government. They used american aid not simply to buy food but in large parts to pocket the money for their own purposes and strengthen military capabilities without looking infrastructure and schools and a functioning this is a recurring pattern hiding a name for democracy. In reality, undermining the very values themselves. Those who study latin america, those who come will see the reagan years as a dark period of American Intervention and militarism and a step away from positive change in that region. It was not that way in other regions and not that way seen by everyone. One thing we have to recognizes the same policies can have different effect in different places. The same policies can have different effects in different places. If we go back to our list of topics, lets talk about raining and the new cold war. If reagan was pushing american ideals, often militaristic lay, he was also challenging the soviet union directly itself. Reagans believe was that the United States in the 1970s had fallen behind. The United States was getting weaker. That was his dominant impression especially because the soviet union seem to be building a bigger arsenal and received to be pulling out of places we seemed to be pulling out of vietnam. 1984, the old and picks were held. I remember these. Moment,n interesting mcdonalds had these cards they would give out when you went to buy a big mac. Would haverds they different events. If the americans won a gold in that event, you got a free big mac. If silver, fries. If bronze, a drink. I was 11 years old. I was working in the summer. I had to work to make money in the summer. I was working. These cards became my source of lunch. Since then, i have never eaten mcdonalds. I had my fill of mcdonalds at age 11 in the summer of 1984. That is why i donald is not a that is why mcdonalds is not a sponsor of our course. What happened in 19 84 is relevant because it affected me. If it affected me, you are stuck hearing about it. It is relevant because in 1980 after the soviet union had invaded afghanistan, jimmy carter had boycotted the olympics because they were in moscow. The u. S. Did not participate in the 1980 olympics. In retaliation the soviet union did not participate in the 1984 olympics which were held in authentic us. Which were held in los angeles. The United States cleaned up. It is easy when your real competitors dont show up. The United States had this outpouring of success in the olympics and reagan translated that effectively into an outpouring of patriotism. That is what this image of him with the flag comes from. He was not the first nor the last to use the flag as a symbol. Here is what reagan was saying. These guys on the other side, they have been growing stronger but we are going to reverse that. It is now time for us to flex our muscles again. It is time for us to show we are stronger and we are going to kick their bus in sports their butts in sports and everything. We will overcome the vietnam syndrome. The sense that we were losers. Now we are going to be winners again. We are going to take it directly to the enemy. Reagan argued a remilitarization of the cold war would force the soviets to back down and he pursued this. In 1983, speaking to a group of florida evangelicals who have this speech on canvas, say the soviet union is an evil empire and is our right and duty to defeat this empire. In 1983, later that month in march, he announced the creation of a Strategic Defense Initiative which was to be a space based system, the first space based system, not the land based or air based, but a spacebased system that would provide protection from the united for the United States from the soviet union. It would give us the ability to knock down missiles, yet we could send hours at them. He talked about creating a 600 ship navy. Today, the navy has about 300 ships. He was going to almost double the size of the u. S. Navy. Missiles, and a country most americans didnt know much about called afghanistan, the United States would up its support for those groups fighting the soviet union , particularly our group called the mujahedin. They were fighting the soviets which had invaded afghanistan. We give them shoulder launched missiles they could use to shoot down planes. One of the figures in the mujahedin, prominent figure who received extensive american americanss a man most had not heard about the time named osama bin laden, a saudi citizen who had gone to afghanistan to fight the infidel invaders from the soviet union. Soon he would be fighting the infidel invaders from the United States. Reagan emphasized human rights. The topic of our podcast this week. He argued the u. S. Must hold the soviet union accountable. Dont pretend they are a state. Talk about their human rights violations. In 1982, his first full year as president , Ronald Reagan refused to meet with the soviet ambassador until they released a group of pentecostals seeking asylum in the u. S. Embassy. He called for the release of jewish citizens, the socalled refuseniks. Many of whom were released in the 1970s, more in the 1980s. Many of these russian jews, released because of reagans pressure, they moved to israel and became prominent parts of israeli politics. The recent election in israel was determined by russian jews who had left russia and moved to israel and have become important voters and politicians in israel today. Just to connect that history to just what happened in the last few days reagan claim to the United States was about human rights and power. We are going to push the soviets. We were going to be strong again and we would push back the soviets. At the same time because of his experiences on the Screen Actors Guild, reagan emphasized negotiations. He was calling for a tougher line but calling for a tougher line so the u. S. Could negotiate for better deals. This is important. People lost sight of that. Reagan believed he would get peace through strength. That meant negotiation. The United States in his view had acquired a weak negotiating position in the 1970s. We were going to make our position stronger now. We would come to the table more selfrighteous and be able to negotiate for a better deal from the soviet union. This had enormous applications this had enormous implications at home. It was very popular but had other implications as well. This carried forward what had been johnson and then certainly nixons agenda of law and order. If the emphasis around suburbs was using police power to control areas and keep areas safe and prevent disruption and protest, that use of police power abroad was going to continue at home. If we were going to have more freedom at home we needed more , strength at home and abroad. Reagan was connecting the commons. There was a pullback from civil rights legislation, money given to policing, in the 1970s and 1980s you had the prevalence and continued push for more maximum Security Prisons and for more mandatory sentencing for drug dealers. This was the height of the drug war. If we were fighting the communists abroad, we would fight drug dealers at home. We would be tough on drug dealers who hang out at the High School Playground or in the park. We were going to be tough, pay police to capture them and lock them up as long as we could. More money going to law and order at home. To say to local communities you , can live as you wish and we will make sure you are protected. The suburbs have to be safe. They need police and to make sure drug dealers cant come down the culdesac. The u. S. Invested more than ever before and that. That meant less spending on other things. Less spending on welfare programs and education. Less spending on other elements of society. More on defense and more on defense and policing. It had a big effect on American Society. This is the American National debt which has grown. It went down after this time we are looking at. Reagan is president during the 1980s, look at how the debt increases. It is the accumulated borrowing of the u. S. Government. Each year there is either a deficit or surplus. We either spend more money than we take in, or we take in more money than we spend. The debt is the accumulated deficits. If every year you are in college you spend five dollars more than you take in, you have a 5 deficit, after four years you have 20 debt. Look at how the u. S. Debt explodes. Exploded in the 1980s because reagan was spending more on defense and policing, reducing spending on social programs, but also increasing spending on entitlements, Social Security, medicare. One of the biggest growth is in spending is medicare. Health Insurance Coverage paid for elderly people. In part because reagan was an elderly person, but also part of law order insecurity. We would be a more orderly society. We would beat the communists abroad, imprisoned drug dealers and make sure the old people had safety and Health Insurance. That was the argument reagan was making. It meant government grew larger. And government was spending a lot more money. Not on the same things they had been spending money on before, less on education. It is during this period that College Tuition starts to rise. There is less money on the less money from the federal and state governments for tuition. Guess who pays for it . All of you. More money is going into defense and policing. College campuses are safer but students are paying more to go. Parks are safer, but students are paying more to go. It is a reallocation of resources and spending money on particular groups of people. It means more local control, but more federal spending to secure local control. Providing security for local communities to do as they wish. To some extent this , creates a longterm economic problem for the United States. The benefit is that this system is providing a basis for safety and innovation and a framework where people can work safely. The downside is that it is creating enormous inequalities. Some are benefiting from this spending especially the elderly, some are not. During reagans presidency the , oldest americans become the wealthiest in the country. Old americans, older americans, retired americans, who deserve it, now have more Health Insurance than ever before whereas Young Americans dont. Old americans live in Safer Communities whereas young might not. Older americans benefit from the spending whereas younger dont. This is not to say any of this is wrong but those are the facts. That is where the resources go. Whether you think it is right or wrong is a matter of opinion. But those are the facts in that is the allocation of money. Money is coming away from other investments. Looks like you had something to say. I dont. I am stretching, moving around. You were talking about old white people which reminds me of my age. Dr. Suri i was talking about old people. Be dont have to be to defensive. I just want to stretch. Dr. Suri you do yoga . I stretch in here twice a week. Dr. Suri take care of yourself. I dont want to have to pay for health care for you. Ok lets go to the third topic. We have talked about the rise of reagan himself and this new idealism and new forceful image. We talked about the new cold war and the emphasis on defense and policing policy in various areas. Now we start the end of the cold war. We will talk more about this in the later lectures and what this meant for the international system, what it has meant for other countries and americas relationship to those. Lets talk about it from the u. S. Soviet perspective. American policymakers and their soviet counterparts. People will talk about reagan, and his role at the end of the cold war so lets talk about , that a bit today. The next image if we could. This man, mikhail gorbachev. Do you remember him . Not quite. That happened right around the time i was born. Dr. Suri it blows my mind. Mikhail gorbachev came to the leadership of the soviet union in 1985. Reagan had been putting pressure on the soviet union. He was taking the game to them and was going to use force to force them to back down and when criticized for being too militaristic, reagan said, i would love to also talk with soviet leaders, but they keep dying on me. Three soviet leaders in succession died in reagans first years as president. They were old and they died. Mikhail gorbachev became the new leader in 1975. 1985. A man who had come of age in the 1950s and 1960s, not during 1975. World war ii. He had seen the world in a different way. He was committed to reforming the soviet union. He saw the soviet union was having trouble keeping up with the United States and recognized the soviet union as an entity had become corrupt, was over investing in the military and had to build a better functioning economy. He was a communist, but he believed in the idealistic core values of his system and believed they had to go back to those. Get rid of the bad things they had done. He was critical of stalins policies and khrushchevs. He was critical at how the cold war had forced the soviet union to become more militaristic. He was looking to find a way to open up the soviet union and to reform. Ronald reagan continued to put pressure on gorbachev. Many of those closest to reagan did not believe gorbachev was different, not for a long time. Two reagans credit, when reagan met gorbachev in part because of reagans emphasis on personal negotiations and his experience talking to so many audiences, he saw someone different. My lecture has been largely critical of reagan and there were many shortcomings reagan had, but he had one deep insight which was individuals matter. He saw in gorbachev someone who is different. Gorbachev was the one who wanted to make the changes and was willing to take more risks. Reagan was willing to meet him. Reagan believed all the pressure he was putting on the soviet union was designed not just to win but to reform the soviet union. He wanted the other country to improve. He wanted them to be better and to help them as he was trying to bury them. He came to believe, despite most of his advisors who warned him otherwise that he could work , with gorbachev. From 1985 to 1989, he began to spend more and more time thinking and working with gorbachev, reading about the soviet union. It is extraordinary the time he took as someone who was not an avid reader to read about russia , to understand the russian people, and to get beyond simply the conflict. Beyond threatening them. Reagan believed they could change. He also believed he had gone far enough in his threats and was willing to change course. He was willing to be the movie actor who pursues one element and then switches the narrative when people have become sufficiently concerned. He wanted a happy ending. As much as he wanted to put pressure on the soviet union, he wanted a happy ending. Gorbachev was willing to make changes. Gorbachev did most of the work to change the soviet union, but reagan met him halfway and supported him. Reagan made gorbachev believe he had a partner, even though they disagreed on several things. But gorbachev said he believed reagan was not trying to destroy him. But that dragon could be a partner. Gorbachev wanted a better relationship with the u. S. , a more open society in a world less prone to warfare. He believed despite reagans public rhetoric that he could actually work with this man based on their discussions. They both started to take risks. In 1986, they met in reykjavik iceland reykjavik, iceland. Advisors. Ror of their they began to talk about eliminating all nuclear weapons. Gorbachev did not want to spend money on these weapons and reagan hated them because they could destroy the world. He had built more of them but wanted to get rid of them. They were willing to talk about that. They negotiated the first limitation that actually destroyed weapons. All of the agreements of the strategic arms limitation talks, they had put caps on the future building of weapons. Now they were going to diminish weapons and to actually start destroying them. The arsenals are reduced during this time. They opened up new means for economical operation and started Economic Cooperation and started to see each other as cooperating partners. These were two rifles on the two rivals on the playground who had been punching each other for years, started punching harder. They realized we needed to restrain ourselves. They both believed they could Work Together to control the conflict and help each other. Gorbachev made the harder decisions, took greater risks but reagan encouraged that in ways that were not just policy but personal. This had enormous effects on how societies viewed each other, not just these two men. Next image, it is extraordinary. This is december 1988. Mikhail gorbachev, the one to the left in front, comes to new york to speak at the united nations, and he gives a speech those who had been long time soviet watchers never thought they would ever witness. He basically says the soviet union no longer want to be involved with military conflict with the u. S. And it will unilaterally reduce 250,000 soldiers in europe and 25,000 tanks. Unilaterally cut its forces. He asks the United States to reciprocate but does not wait for them to agree. He goes to governors island, the statue of liberty is in the background. With president reagan. And the president elect george hw bush. George hw bush had been Vice President and in november 1988 was elected president. It is an interesting moment. The american president and the american Vice President who is also the president elect. If you read the minutes of this set of meetings and you read them coming from mars, you would not know reagan hated the soviet union so much and gorbachev hated capitalism. You would not know these societies had come close to two blowing up the world. You would not know that reagan had called him an evil empire. When reagan went to moscow just before this, he was asked this question if the soviet union was still an evil empire. He said that was another time. Not anymore now. This visit is the moment the cold war ended. I know because i was there. I will tell you my story of this. I was in high school then. I used to go to high school in new york city and take the subway. This was december 1988. Gorbachev was going through manhattan, coming from this meeting going back uptown. This is in the lower part of manhattan. He was in these three limousines. They were soviet style limousines. You might have seen images in tom clancy films. I was taking the subway to high school. I remember coming up out of the subway coming home from school on december 3, 1988. I came out of the subway, 59th street and lexington avenue, and the streets were lined with people. You could not get across the street. There were so many people lining up. These were not freaks. These were actually people wearing suits and ties. They were like bankers and lawyers. There i am with my backpack. I am like what is going on . Get out of my way. What is going on . I remember thinking, have the yankees won the world series again . It was december, how is this possible . And then the limousines came by. Gorbachev stopped the limousine and got out and started walking toward the crowd. I was standing on the Street Corner a little pissed off at the people around me and there he comes. First of all as he started to walk over, it was as if Bruce Springsteen was here. It was as if brooks winfree were coming. The cheering, the sense of gorbachev among americans as a hero was palpable. He was more popular than Ronald Reagan at that moment. He was seen as changing the walked over he came about three or four feet away from me and there was a throng of people trying to touch him and connect with him. That is the moment the cold war ended. Why did it end in that moment . Because i said so. Now, no, it ended because what was clear to me and i recognized this as a 16yearold was that americans no longer feared the soviet leader. You cannot imagine stalin being treated that way. Reagans hardline and his idealism had curiously collaborated with gorbachevs reform agenda. Reagans support for gorbachevs reform agenda if you go back to this image, the sense they could be partners had infused American Society. If they could not remain partners after world war ii, created the foundation for the cold war, now there was a sense that these two societies could Work Together and there was not reason to fear. Gorbachev was not a feared person when he came three feet away from me. He was a beloved person. He was seen as a reformer bringing the world together. And reagan was seen as a humanitarian, jovial older man who was willing to work with gorbachev. Reagan would be remembered for ending the cold war. He did not end it, but he facilitated gorbachevs efforts. He humanized his own policies. He was willing to connect with gorbachev and willing to encourage americans to connect with him. If he mobilized for more pressure and force in the early 1980s, he shifted direction, used legitimacy to sell a soft line to americans to work with gorbachev and the need to get beyond fears. Reagan made americans feel stronger again, but then he convinced them to reach out. It was reagans willingness to reach out, his restoration of american confidence whether justified or not, and use of that confidence to encourage cooperation. Great leaders use strength and achievement to encourage cooperation and humanitarian activities, not bullying and continued conflict. Reagan used the strength he felt he had built in American Society to encourage cooperation. That is what i was feeling on the streets of new york that day. Their desire and willingness to operate. That is why the cold war ended. I felt that as a 16 euro because i knew enough to believe that kind of meant was unthinkable a few years earlier. It had direct effects. I was not the only one who felt that way. Next image, it was that experience i had in new york, that exact experience that was the experience of the berlin wall falling 11 months later. The berlin wall had been built in august 1961 when the United States and soviet union came close to nuclear war over the future of berlin. It imprisoned west berlin and became a symbol of conflict between east and west and closed soviet society and militarized American Society ready to respond. It was east versus west, what Winston Churchill had called, before it was built, the iron curtain. After gorbachevs visit to new york and the developments of what i described, it was not only americans stopped fearing him. Citizens in germany, hungary and poland stopped fearing him. It was not that they loved america or loved reagan, but they believed the United States was open to them, that American Allies were open to them. Beginning in poland in 1989 and culminating to some extent in berlin 1989, People Living in the soviet system who had been walled in started to tear down these walls. This is most dramatic november 1989. The east german regime opened the wall slightly to allow people to move and then a throng of citizens came. If you look at this image, these young people, they are not doing this as i said because they love america. They are doing this because they want to be free. They no longer feared that gorbachev will shoot them down like dogs. They no longer fear the ignited states will exploit them. They believe that now this is a new moment and that the leaders who are working together will allow them to Work Together with other citizens and places they couldnt work with before. And i cant emphasize this enough, an idealistic moment. Again, i was in high school. Anything seemed possible. College in 1990, i went off to stanford, and we thought every problem in the world was going to be solved. Not because reagan solved to them, not because gorbachev solves them, but because reagan and gorbachev had found a way to Work Together. If we were working together, anything was possible. The fall of the berlin wall was followed by nationalist uprisings throughout the soviet system in places like armenia, azerbaijan, georgia, lithuania latvia, estonia, these societies and groups of people who had long been imprisoned in the soviet system were getting their freedom. Pretty soon, russians themselves argued for major reform. Russia was one component of a larger soviet system. A new man emerged by the name of boris yeltsin, who challenged gorbachev to actually allow real elections. Real democracy. 1991, the soviet union was gone. Gorbachev peacefully signed the document ending the soviet union as we know it. This is not a victory for the United States, this was an openness to change encouraged by the United States and courageously sought by those in the former soviet union. Reagan did not make this happen. Made it mores, he difficult, but he did play a crucial role. Embraceial role was to the possibility of change, push for it, and supported. It was his willingness to negotiate, his willingness to adjust, and his willingness to convince americans using his legitimacy as a tough guy to sell a more cooperative policy that made this moment a little more possible than it might have been otherwise. Lets go back to our initial image of reagan. He did offer americans a fresh start. Not quite in the ways he always wanted, but in ways that were enduring. Ways that had lasting effect. Attitude matters. Words matter. Image is matters. Reagan inspired lots of people. He inspired people to believe that the United States could be a better society. He inspired people to believe they can live the lives they wanted. Who are not others included in that vision. It wasnt everyone. For many people, this was an inspiring moment. He gave american selfconfidence he actually spent a lot of money on certain things that help the United States in certain ways. Our medicare system, Social Security in some ways reflect investments he made. He actually built government to help certain people not everyone. But helost resources, did many positive things for many groups. There were negatives too. He supported brutal dictators in el salvador. Progressive reforms like civil rights reforms came to a halt. He encouraged groups that actually were not groups of hate that she was not a hater, but he supported during the aids crisis, when aids became not just a disease but also a phobia, people fearful of people of even talking to others, reagan did very little. ,housands of americans thousands of gay americans suffered from this horrible disease. 10 doves tens of thousands of africans suffered, he did very little. Inequality grew during his presidency. Werell, his policies revolutionary because they brought the United States out of the shadow of vietnam. The shadow of the disruptions of the 1960s. They brought suburban politics into the mainstream. Social changes in the 1970s, people moving from cities to suburban areas, became the heart of american politics. It became the heart of a new republican party. The heart of a new system and approach to the world and at home. American society was not more divided nor was American Society more prosperous as a whole, but American Society seem to be moving in what many believed was a positive direction. Those were left behind were now mobilized to push for their own purposes in other ways. He replaced the vietnam war with what he saw as winnable wars. He replaced global destructions of the 1960s with law order and rot a suburban heartland into the mainstream of American Society. He created two americas. There were the americans and parts of america that found hope and idealism in what he was doing, and those who continue to feel left behind. Those two americas would Work Together, but would in some ways be the two americas we would come to see later. Reagans politics for politics of hope for many. They left others in despair. They were politics of change at home and abroad. Not for everyone. What reagan teaches us most of all is that in a large complex society liked United States, there are different experiences people have from the same policies. We must be attentive to those different experiences. To reagans discredit, he did not understand how it affected different groups in different ways. That is a tall order. Society willomplex always affect people in different ways. Leadership is about understanding and reconciling those changes. That topic will be the topic for us as we move forward into the postcold war period and look at the consequences at the end of the cold war for the creation of the world we live in today. I will see you tuesday to discuss that wonderful topic. Have a good weekend. Until then, dont forget your response papers. Announcer listen to lectures in history by streaming our podcast. Youre watching American History tv. Announcer sunday at 7 00 p. M. Eastern, we show an interview with esther carey about her participation in the 1960 lunch counter sit ins while a student in greensboro, north carolina. Heres a preview. We all came with a deep feeling that that is wrong. That is wrong, and we knew that. They wanted to correct it and be educated. Do not do anything about it, your education wasnt going to be much. These girls would tell you they worked very hard, they discussed everything. Our president was involved as well. And said shes told couldnt tell us not to her girls. We were always called her girls. She couldnt tell her girls not to. That it wouldout be sort of folly to to start the citizens, the actions before the christmas vacations. If you started it at thanksgiving, everybody would say sorry, i have been politically active but i have to go home now. , she cautioned them to wait. They did. And then they told all of us when they came back it back that they were ready to start. On february 1, the young man sat down. Heres an important thing. Where were you on that day . When they sat down. She said i was in woolworths. Why were you there . She said because first she had to buy something. Trained thatd been if you didnt buy something, you could be tossed out of the store. So you go in the store and buy something. She says she was standing, waiting because there was a plan. It was a plan that had to have been created here on the campus. So the girls would think they did not get enough credit. That is what they would think. And announcer watch the full interview sunday at 7 00 p. M. Eastern here on American History tv. Announcer up next, we wind the clock back to 1960 four to visit new York City Public School classrooms. Is ation for excellence city of board of education film, promoting a Gifted Program for element tree school students. The camera visit schools in queens, the bronx, brooklyn, and manhattan to observe schools and students at work. The argument is that future leaders in government, science and business need to be identified and challenged early in their lives so they can reach their full potential. Narrator 600,000 children go to public Elementary Schools in new
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