and the communist world. the west and the communist world. >> and madeline albright, let me read from 136. madeline albright advised walter mondale scolded, quote, we have a president who seems to have a mindset against arms control, who she would later claim after becoming secretary of state in the clinton administration, that her world view was forged by munich. what is the munich reference? we get it all the time niece books. >> munich was the sellout of czech by britain and france in the 1938, and many opinion leaders, policy makers in the west, found that to be a searing lesson about how if you appeased dictators it will -- you know, you are simply encouraging them, and that you may not have to fight now, but you will have to fight later, and it will be even worse later. ok. well, that was the lesson that conservatives continue to want to apply to the soviet union and the communist world generally where liberals didn't. they wanted to apply that to the nazis but not to the communist, and i was -- madelin

he got his job back, but the anti-communist politician, jihad for hoover -- j. edgar hoover neutralize his career. and eventually though, he left, took early retirement, i found it was a secret memo in his personnel file saying that because of this interesting incident with the editor back in 45 whenever he was up for promotion, it should be taken into account, even though we never found them disloyal, but when mao, when nixon decided it would be better for the united states interest of better relations with the chinese as a counterweight to the soviet union, the chinese invited john service back before nixon as a signal they wanted better relations with the u.s. and so after the nixon handshake, john service was again considered a major political specialist on chinese affairs, and he was given many, many honors, and honorary degrees. here he's in his rope and next to him is his wife caroline. and next to her is the actors drank a. this took place in california. and if you want to know how it ended like that, i'm afraid you're going to have to read the book. [la

the problem was that the chinese communists didn't trust any communist, so they were reluctant to beery specific through romania. finally again, on the trip around the world, nixon talked to the pakistan president, and that established a contact which we then used. >> host: let me ask you about the immediate backdrop to what you were doing with the opening to china which was the vietnam war. >> guest: okay. >> host: we could about the strategic in the soviet union which was growing at least this strategic terms and china. talk a little bit about how you expected the opening to china to affect the war in vietnam? >> guest: one has to remember that nixon didn't start the war in vietnam. nixon inherited the war in vietnam. when nixon ended office, there were 545,000 americans in vietnam. and we had just gone through the tet offensive, which was a major attack by the vietnamese and we had riots in the streets in this country against the war in vietnam. at the same time, we were the country in which the security of almost every region of the world depended. and nixon had known he had not

but soon enough the results became clear boris yeltsin defeated the communist candidate handily with more than half of the votes. when he led the resistance to the coup late that out some of his popularity peaked but over the next decade the support fields and among russians dwindled as the country went through difficult reforms surveys showed that as the anniversary of the election approached if you remember and even fewer care but it's been great i don't have any emotions about it but i did vote for yeltsin then but i'm far less political now absolutely true i voted but i can tell you these are all just politicians games they have nothing to do with me. it's not surprising that those who lived through the difficult times did not want to celebrate this occasion but hopefully the next generation will truly appreciate the historic significance of this moment and of yeltsin as of now russia's first president himself remains unappreciated with only one in five saying to have a positive attitude towards him many outside of russia said at the even today it's democracy is not perfect and s

with this victory in the election yeltsin prove that you can stand up to the communists establishment in an open and public manner he did not cut back room deals or try and protest with this victory ensured that the soviet union could break out without armed conflict. unlike former soviet leaders yeltsin campaign like a democratic politician meeting their electorate and delivering stump speeches at factories and town squares. his rallies attracted hundreds of thousands when the election night came we were hopeful would win but we still weren't sure after all it was the communist party that counted the votes but soon enough the results became clear boris yeltsin defeated the communist candidate handily with more than half of the votes. when he led the resistance to a hardline a coup that at summer his popularity peaked but over the next decade the support fields and among russians. when the old as the country went through difficult reforms surveys showed that as the anniversary of the election approached if you remember and even fewer care it's been good i don't have any emotions about

the problem was that the chinese communists didn't trust any communist, so they were reluctant to be very specific to romania and violate again nixon talked to the pakistan president and that astonish a contract which we then used. >> host: let me ask that the immediate backdrop what you are doing with the opening to china with the vietnam war that. you talked about the strategic dynamic between the united states and the soviet union which was growing and based on a strategic terms and china. talk ehlers little bit if you would about how you expected the opening to china not to affect the war in vietnam. >> nixon didn't start the war in vietnam, nixon inherited the war in vietnam and there were 545,000 americans in vietnam, and we had just gone through the tet offensive, and which was a major attack by the vietnamese and we had riots in the streets in this country against the war in vietnam. at the same time, we were the country on which the security of almost every regional dependent, and nixon felt even though he hadn't made the original commitment she would not abandon the people

hell gorbachev was the head of the soviet union chosen by communist functionary boris yeltsin was in charge of a new sovereign russia and promised reform but calling for an open election yeltsin challenged the authority of the communist party over russia. with this victory in the election yeltsin through the you can stand up to the communists establishment in an open and public manner he did not cut back room deals or try and protest with this victory ensured that the soviet union can break out without armed conflict. unlike former soviet leaders yeltsin campaign like a democratic politician meeting their electorate and delivering stump speeches at factories and in town squares what at his rallies attracted hundreds of thousands when the election night came we were hopeful would win but we still weren't sure after all it was the communist party that counted the votes but soon enough the results became clear boris yeltsin defeated the communists candidate handily with more than half of the votes. when he led the resistance to the coup laid out some of his popularity peaked but over th

lash first was a communist or communist sympathizer, but then he broke with the communists and became a very strong anti-communist. lash said the two of them had a moral affinity. he introduced her to the machinations of communists within social movements, and eleanor benefited from be his political savvy as he discussed the way in which communists operated within these movements. and years later at the united nations she said that she didn't have much trouble dealing with the russians because she had learned about the communists when she'd been first lady. well, she learned a lot, i think, from joel lash. by now accustomed to making the role of first lady one of real significance as a traveling ambassador for the first, for the roosevelt administration, during world war ii she makes enormous number of visits. in fact, she's away from washington so much that a washington newspaper has a headline: mrs. roosevelt stays at white house overnight. [laughter] here she is visiting enlisted men at a base in the galapagos island off the coast of ecuador during a world war ii morale-building tr

was fidel castro communist?now you have to recall that in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the battle against the so-called international communist conspiracy was the organizing principle in which american foreign policy was based and it wasn't just the spread of communism that was so feared. it was the fact that the communists had nuclear weapons. and given the rhetoric coming out of the kremlin khrushchev was saying all sorts of things like we will bury you and those were literally his words. they seemed warren more willing to use them. i emphasize this to point out that the spectrum of the communist country 90 miles from american shores with simply tolerable, and not just to conservatives like barry goldwater or richard nixon but really to everybody. so, fidel castro was interrogated on the subject of communism everywhere he went on his visit. by vice president nixon, by congressional subcommittee, by scores of journalists, everyone asking the same question, dr. castro are you a communist? indians are the same