TASS KIT. 2 March Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU 1985-1991 and first President of the USSR in 1990-1991, turns 85 years old. Revision-DOSSIER prepared a collection of quotes about him by his contemporaries – known foreign political figures.
Ronald Reagan, U.S. President (1981-1989). From the diaries (excerpts published in the magazine “Ogonek” №46; 12-18 November 2007):
Met with our Ambassador in the USSR, Art Hartman. Great small. Confirms my suspicions that Gorbachev from the same cloth as their other leaders. Had he not been thoroughly Orthodox, would never had approved of the Politburo
(entry dated 19 April 1985)
Was Armand hammer (American businessman – approx.-DOSSIER)… Met with Gorbachev face to face. I am convinced that Gorby is not what former Soviet leaders and what you can deal with. I’m too cynical to believe in such things
(June 1985)
For the first time really felt his partner in a common cause to improve the world
(after the visit of Mikhail Gorbachev in new York in December 1988)
Now, when I look back, I realize that those first letters from both parties were careful the beginning of what will become the Foundation of not only better relations between our countries and friendship between two people
From the autobiography “Life in America”, 1990
George H. W. Bush, U.S. President (1989-1991):
You must acknowledge that President Gorbachev has achieved astonishing things, and the goals of his policies of glasnost, perestroika and democratization are freedom, democracy and economic freedom
From the speech in the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR in Kiev, August 1, 1991
Henry Kissinger, U.S. Secretary of state (1973-1977):
From the book “Diplomacy” (published in the USA in 1994 and in Russia in 1997):
Gorbachev, came to fame through a most severe struggle at all levels of the Communist hierarchy, was determined to breathe new force in advanced, as he believed, Soviet ideology
And Reagan, and Gorbachev believed in the final victory of their own side. However, there was a significant difference between the two unexpected partners: Reagan understand what forces drive his society, whereas Gorbachev had completely lost contact with them. Both leaders appealed to the best that I saw in their systems. Ho Reagan freed the spirit of his people, having gold reserves initiative and self-confidence, Gorbachev has sharply accelerated the death of the represented system, calling for reforms that he was not able
Highly cultured and courteous, he (Gorbachev – approx.-DOSSIER) like some abstract shapes of Russian novels of the nineteenth century: cosmopolitan and provincial, intelligent, but somewhat uncollected; insightful, but lacking in understanding of him standing in front of a choice
He wanted to achieve by their actions of modernisation and liberty; he tried to adapt the Communist party to the world; but instead was the master of ceremonies for the collapse of the very system that formed him and which he owed his rise
Curse his own people for the great misfortune that happened when he was at the fed unlimited power, and abandoned by democratic countries, flabbergasted at his inability to hold on to this power, Gorbachev does not deserve nor ecstatic raptures, nor dishonor, alternately ex-his fate. For he has inherited a truly impossible set of problems
Zbigniew Brzezinski, adviser to US President on national security (1977-1981):
A year ago, Gorbachev spoke at the party conference. He said elected members of the party that political reform is now more important than economic. And indeed, the recovery in the economy is impossible without political change. Making the first priority the democratization of the political system, Gorbachev has demonstrated an understanding of the depth of the crisis in the country and their own intellectual courage. But at the same time – and maybe unconsciously – taken the first steps, which may well lead to the complete collapse of the Soviet Union
The article “the Soviet Empire threatens self-destruction?” (published in the magazine “Rodina” in October 1989)
Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister UK (1979-1990):
He is smart and open, is endowed with a certain charm and sense of humor. I’m sure this man can deal with. I actually liked
In a letter to U.S. President Ronald Reagan after his first meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev in February 1984
I like Mr. Gorbachev. We can do business together. We both believe in our political system. He firmly believes in his, and I firmly believe in. And none of us can force another to change its system
In interview Bi-bi-si, 17 December 1984
Erich Honecker, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Socialist unity party of Germany (1971-1989):
Now, everyone, it became clear that the Communist party under the leadership of Gorbachev surrendered to the imperialists and the Soviet Union, and all countries of the Warsaw Pact. Now it all starts again, there may be a third world war is already underway
Once in power, he capitulated, first as Secretary General and then have destroyed the CPSU and all. All supporters of the cold war from Reagan to Bush stand up in his defense
From the last diary entries, dated 1992 (published in German newspaper Tagesspiegel in February 2012)
Helmut Kohl, Federal Chancellor of Germany (1982-1998):
Gorbachev will remain what he abolished communism, partly against his will, but de-facto it it eliminated. Without violence. Without bloodshed. Besides, that really was left, nothing else comes to my mind
From the memoirs written by the German publicist Herbert Schwan
See also
Mikhail Gorbachev: the last of the USSR
