#50 Ambassador Jack Matlock on Diplomacy & US-Russian Relations
The Road to Now
Benjamin Sawyer
4.8 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 28 March 2017
⏱️ 27 minutes
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Summary
The Cold War that developed between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II, defined the second half of the 20th century. In these years, the two so-called superpowers competed to win the hearts and minds of the world, all the while trying not to destroy all of humanity with the atomic weapons they had stockpiled en masse. Yet after decades of bitter confrontation, American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev were able to bring the Cold War to an end in just a few years. Given that Moscow has once again emerged as a focal point in American politics, we'd be wise to learn what we can from the end of the Cold War. On this episode of The Road to Now, we are honored to share our interview with a man who was, in fact, in the room where it happened- former US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Jack Matlock recorded live at Middle Tennessee State University.
A special thanks to the Department of History and the Department of Political Science and International Relations at MTSU for supporting this live podcast, and to Susan Myers-Shirk and Kelle Knight for helping us make the event a success. We are also grateful to John Merchant of MTSU's Department of Recording Industry and his students Colin Bell, Logan Eley, and Caleb King for recording the event.
For more on this episode and others, check out our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II defined the second half of the 20th century. |
| 0:08.6 | In these years, the two so-called superpowers competed to win the hearts and minds of the world, |
| 0:13.2 | all the while trying not to destroy the whole body with the atomic weapons they had stockpiled en masse. |
| 0:18.9 | Yet after decades of bitter confrontation, American President |
| 0:22.1 | Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev were able to bring the Cold War to an end |
| 0:27.3 | in just a few years. Given that Moscow has once again emerged as a focal point in American politics, |
| 0:33.5 | we'd be wise to learn what we can from the end of the Cold War. On this episode of The Road to Now, we are honored to share our interview with a man who was, in fact, in the room where it happened, |
| 0:44.0 | former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union, Jack Matlock, recorded live from Middle Tennessee State University. |
| 0:53.6 | This week, we are proud to feature the Ram's vinyl-only 60th anniversary reissue of Josh White's Josh at Midnight. |
| 1:01.4 | For this project, Doff had the honor of working closely with Jack Holtzman, who is the founder of |
| 1:06.5 | Electric Recordings, originally released Josh at midnight in 1956, at a time when Holtzman was |
| 1:12.7 | struggling to get his label going and the blues legend was being blacklisted from the music |
| 1:17.1 | industry. The 12 tracks on this record featured Josh's impeccable vocals and his unique |
| 1:23.6 | guitar playing that influenced George Harrison, Bill Wyman, and Jimmy Page, among many others. |
| 1:30.2 | Not only was White a groundbreaking musician, as well as a star of film and Broadway, but he also |
| 1:35.8 | served as an advisor to President Roosevelt on black social reforms. |
| 1:40.2 | Please visit ramsoor Records.com to pick up a copy of Josh at Middnick. |
| 1:49.7 | I'm Bob Crawford. |
| 1:51.1 | And I'm Ben Sawyer and this is the road to now. |
| 1:54.0 | Ben, we had a wonderful time at Middle Tennessee State University speaking with the Honorable Ambassador Jack Matlock. |
| 2:04.0 | Yes, we did. And it was the wonderful moments on the roads to now where all the roads converge. |
| 2:10.2 | Bob was in town. Ian lives here. I was here. We were here at Middle Tennessee State University. |
... |
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