Kenneth Adelman

Kenneth Adelman, former director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency during the Reagan administration, chronicles his experience in “The Great Universal Embrace: Arms Summitry - A Skeptic's Account.” Adelman advised the president on arms control issues and he specifically talks of his ... (more)involvement in three U.S.-Soviet summits. "Summits are like Cleopatra," says Adelman. "They can be fun, but they are treacherous." Adelman discusses the personal quality of the Reagan-Gorbachev summit meetings. He recounts the "pantry meeting," when Mr. Gorbachev invited Mr. Reagan into a pantry for a seventh personal meeting during the Reykjavik summit. Confused, Mr. Reagan agreed. Later, the U.S. delegation realized Gorbachev's motive: he could boast of his seven different meetings with Reagan, an important measure of success in Soviet politics.