The Reagan Presidential Library awarded me a Freedom medal. I wanted to make my speech on receiving the award more personal than the usual diplomatic courtesies. I reminded my audience that by no means everywhere in the world had the four freedoms triumphed that Franklin D. Roosevelt had proclaimed in 1941: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. All these freedoms, I said, are constituents of the concept of freedom of choice. Our generation had not found it easy to turn the course of global events in a direction that would make it possible to implement those principles.
We grew up in a climate of confrontation that distorted our thinking and our political vision. I will say frankly, none of us politicians here were entirely free of the taint of confrontational stereotypes but, at first barely noticeably, but then with growing awareness, we began to recognize it was essential to break out of that vicious circle.
I believe that came about because we listened to ordinary people.
It was the popular consciousness that rejected and overcame the stereotypes of the Cold War, the image of an enemy, the reflex hostility towards the other side. In even the darkest years, many Americans and Russians were drawn to each other in friendship and refused to view each other through the perspective of preparation for war.
The Cold War and how it had been overcome was the main topic of my speech in Fulton, where we went from California. Westminster College in this small town in Missouri is where, 46 years before me, Winston Churchill gave his famous speech about the descending of an ‘iron curtain’ in Europe. On the slope of a gentle hillside were long rows of benches for an audience of some 15,000 people, many of whom had come from other cities.
At the back of the platform from which I was speaking rose a massive concrete wall with gaping openings in the shape of human figures. The artist’s imagination had found a succinct way of expressing the drama of the Cold War, the irrepressible desire of human beings to break through the wall of alienation and confrontation. It was symbolic that the designer of this monument was a granddaughter of Winston Churchill. She was present in the audience and, of course, there was good reason for her sculpture to have been erected in Fulton.
In his speech, Churchill had called for the world to be saved from the communist threat. The decisive role, he believed, would be played by power, and primarily by armed force. Indeed, he titled his speech ‘The Sinews of Peace’. Reminding my audience of this, I told them of my own view of the situation at that time. ‘The world community had a unique opportunity to steer the world in a different direction and radically alter the role of force and war. That, of course, ultimately depended on the Soviet Union and the United States.’ That opportunity had not been taken. Stalin’s government saw the victory over fascism as tantamount to a victory for socialism and embarked on a course of spreading its own kind of ‘socialism’ to the rest of the world. The West too, however, and first and foremost the United States, also blundered. ‘The conclusion that military aggression by the USSR was likely to follow, was fallacious and dangerous. That was out of the question.’
The outcome of mutual distrust and misinterpretation of events was the Cold War. ‘Under the guise of protestations of peace-loving intentions and the need to protect the interests of the world’s peoples, both sides took decisions that split the world. Their antagonism was misrepresented by both sides as a necessary confrontation between good and evil.’
[The most important thing today was] not to make the intellectual, and political, mistake of seeing overcoming the Cold War as a victory for America. We now have the opportunity to move forward to peace and progress for everyone, relying not on force, which is a threat to all civilization, but on international law, the principles of equal rights, a balancing of interests, freedom of choice, cooperation and common sense.
I urged my listeners to acknowledge an important reality: it was not possible in this day and age for ‘particular states or groups of states to reign supreme on the international stage’. My speech in Fulton was less a polemic against Churchill than against those hatching plans for global domination.
This speech was followed by meetings at two major American universities, Stanford in California and Emory in Atlanta, Georgia. University and student audiences are always wonderfully attentive and lively. Such wise and experienced politicians as Jimmy Carter and George Shultz as well as university professors and government representatives were there, and actively joined in the debate.
One of the main points I wanted to make in my speeches was that we cannot afford to adopt a fatalistic attitude towards the future. Those who believe it is unpredictable and that human beings are powerless to alter the inexorable course of events are plain wrong. It is no good trying to support this view by referring back to history. History was not fated. We had succeeded in overcoming the ‘logic of fatalism’ and put an end to the Cold War, but now, I warned, events were developing ever more rapidly, and we must change in order not to allow the intellectual and moral development of mankind to lag behind changing existential conditions. Mankind has no right to refuse to rationally regulate impersonal processes. That would be a fatal mistake.
I spoke to the students about the state under the rule of law (a topic suggested by George Shultz) and about democracy. ‘There is nothing automatically safeguarding democracy from defeat. It will always find itself being tested. It has no shortage of open or covert opponents and false friends. Democracy does not just arrive by itself. It needs constantly to be cultivated and nurtured.’
The twin American capitals of New York and Washington, DC were, of course, the most critical stops of the trip. They are where the American elites are concentrated, with their enormous potential, but also certain quirks and delusions. Would I succeed in conveying my thoughts and conclusions to these influential people?
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, I focused mainly on the relationship between the United States and Russia. As far as I can tell, I said, two basic approaches have evolved to relations between our countries: ‘The first aims to profit from the current state of the Russian Federation by preventing her from enjoying to the full the status of a great power. The second is based on the premise that a strong, rejuvenated, democratic Russia is in the national interests of the United States.’ I urged my audience of experts in international relations and military politics to make a firm decision. You have great scope, I said. A great deal remains to be done before the partnership proclaimed between our countries ceases to be mere rhetoric and becomes a reality. The top priority should be
to focus on the need for a radical change of attitude in strategic military thinking. I have to say that, with some exceptions, it remains – at least in military circles – determined by regarding each other as potential adversaries. The challenge is to formulate jointly a doctrine to ensure mutual security, encompassing military affairs and intelligence gathering. Science may also have a contribution to make.
Reading that speech today, I can only regret that those suggestions were not acted on at the time, and today it seems completely utopian to many. I believe that now, when the situation is largely changed, this is a task that will have to be returned to, if only to avoid making new mistakes.