World: Reagan’s Soviet Adviser ‘Damn Lucky’: “‘Gorbachev told me that he [Reagan] had extraordinary human instincts,’ Massie said. ‘That’s very important for Russians.’ Washington bureaucrats had a stale approach to U.S.-Soviet ties, leaving the two sides locked in an arms race that had the two superpowers living in fear of each other. ‘They all just assumed that the Soviet Union was immutable, would never change. Think how many careers were built on that — bureaucratic careers. So status quo was much more convenient than anything else,’ Massie said. But Reagan turned the tide with his unique approach and interest in the Soviet people. ‘He really wanted to know how ordinary Russians thought and lived and their aspirations, rather than bureaucrats,’ she said. ‘He was the first president, I think, to understand very clearly the difference between ‘Russian’ and ‘Soviet’.’”
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