Reagan’s talk show

Re “Keep your enemies closer,” Opinion, April 6

If President Reagan believed that talking to your enemies makes sense, why did he talk only to Soviet leaders? Why didn’t he talk to Hudson Austin of Grenada in an attempt to avoid a ridiculous war? Or to the Iranian leaders before they instigated the 1983 bombing in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. servicemen? Or to Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua before the disastrous Iran-Contra scandal erupted? Or to Fidel Castro in an attempt to heal relations with Cuba? Apparently he talked to enemies only when it suited his political purposes and enhanced his image.

Unfortunately, the article perpetuates the false myth that Reagan’s talking to Soviet leaders significantly moved the Cold War to a peaceful end. The Soviet Union collapsed because of internal problems. George Kennan, the former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union and father of the theory of containment, asserts that the suggestion that any U.S. administration had the power to influence decisively the course of a tremendous domestic political upheaval in another great country is simply childish.

Sylvan Gollin

Claremont