Peterson, Christian

About the author: Christian Peterson received his BA in History from Yale University. He worked as an Editorial Fellow at the Western Historical Quarterly while earning his MA from Utah State. He currently teaches history at the Culver Academies.

Ronald Reagan and Anti- Nuclear Movements in the United States and Western Europe, 1981-1987

2003 0-7734-6703-3
This work challenges the assertion that the nuclear freeze and Western European movements forced Ronald Reagan to embrace arms control and improve Soviet-American relations during his presidency. While these movements put tremendous pressure on Reagan, they never fundamentally altered his conception of how to reduce nuclear weapons significantly. Besides outlining Reagan’s complex interaction with these movements, this work will show that Reagan’s conduct and personal views played a crucial role in bringing about the Soviet-American Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987.