Reagan's Secret War

Martin Anderson and Annelise Anderson talked about their book Reagan’s Secret War: The Untold Story of His Fight to Save the World from Nuclear Disaster (Crown; June 2, 2009). They contend that Ronald Reagan’s goal from the beginning of his presidency was to bring an end to the Soviet Union and believed the destruction of nuclear weapons was paramount in achieving this objective. The authors had access to formerly classified documents housed at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and cite National Security Council meetings that the former president chaired and first person accounts from the Reagan-Gorbachev summits to support their argument. After each made a presentation, that included displaying some documents they used in their research, they responded to questions from members of the audience.

Martin Anderson was formerly an economic policy adviser in the Reagan administration. Annelise Anderson was a senior policy adviser to the Reagan presidential campaign and associate director of President Reagan’s Office of Management and Budget. The husband and wife are the co-authors Reagan’s Path to Victory; Reagan, In His Own Hand; and Reagan: A Life in Letters.

This event was held at 1:00 pm.m PT in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, on Thursday, June 18, 2009. close