Mikhail Gorbachev, speaking here at Stanford, in June 1990, quote,

the Cold War is now behind us. Let's not wrangle over who want it.

Let's wrangle. Historian William Inboden, on Uncommon Knowledge Now.

Welcome to Uncommon Knowledge, I'm Peter Robinson.

A Stanford alum, William Inboden, earned his doctorate in history from Yale,

then worked for 15 years with the State Department and the National Security Council

before returning to academia. Dr. Inboden now serves as executive director

of the Climate Center for National Security and as associate professor

at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, both at the University of Texas in Austin.

Will Inboden's new book, The Peace Maker, Ronald Reagan, the Cold War,

and the World on the Brink? Dr. Inboden and I have already discussed Ronald Reagan's first term.

You'll find that conversation on YouTube. Today, President Reagan's second term

and the Cold War endgame. Will, welcome.

Thank you, Peter. Great to be back with you. Gorbachev emerges.

On January 20, 1985, Ronald Reagan takes the oath of office for his second term,

and then on March 11, less than two months later,

Mikhail Gorbachev is named General Secretary of the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev succeeds Constantine Chernenko, who had died in 1985,

and Chernenko had succeeded Yuri Andropov, who had died in 1984,

and Andropov had succeeded Brezhnev, who had died in 1982,

Reagan joked during the first term that he'd be happy to meet a Soviet leader,

but they kept dying on him. But now there's Gorbachev,

...